Peter Griffiths

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}}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#if:||{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}}}} }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| regexp1 = 1blankname[%d]* | regexp2 = 1namedata[%d]* | regexp3 = 2blankname[%d]* | regexp4 = 2namedata[%d]* | regexp5 = 3blankname[%d]* | regexp6 = 3namedata[%d]* | regexp7 = 4blankname[%d]* | regexp8 = 4namedata[%d]* | regexp9 = 5blankname[%d]* | regexp10 = 5namedata[%d]* | allegiance | alma_mater | regexp11 = alongside[%d]* | alt | regexp12 = ambassador_from[%d]* | regexp13 = appointed[%d]* | regexp14 = appointer[%d]* | regexp15 = assembly[%d]* | awards | battles | battles_label | birth_date | birth_name | birth_place | birthname | regexp16 = blank[%d]* | bodyclass | branch | branch_label | cabinet | candidate | caption | categories | regexp17 = chancellor[%d]* | children | citizenship | regexp18 = co%-leader[%d]* | commands | committees | regexp19 = constituency[%d]* | regexp20 = constituency_AM[%d]* | regexp21 = constituency_MP[%d]* | regexp22 = convocation[%d]* | regexp23 = country[%d]* | regexp24 = data[%d]* | date | death_cause | death_date | death_manner | death_place | demo | regexp25 = deputy[%d]* | regexp26 = district[%d]* | education | election_date | embed | father | regexp28 = firstminister[%d]* | footnotes | regexp29 = governor[%d]* | regexp30 = governor_general[%d]* | regexp31 = governor%-general[%d]* | height | honorific_prefix | honorific-prefix | honorific_suffix | honorific-suffix | image | image name | image_name_alt | image_size | imagesize | image_upright | incumbent | regexp32 = jr/sr[%d]* | regexp33 = jr/sr and state[%d]* | known_for | regexp34 = leader[%d]* | regexp35 = legislature[%d]* | regexp36 = lieutenant[%d]* | regexp37 = lieutenant_governor[%d]* | mainwidth | regexp38 = majority[%d]* | regexp39 = majority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp40 = majority_leader[%d]* | regexp41 = majorityleader[%d]* | mawards | regexp42 = military_blank[%d]* | regexp43 = military_data[%d]* | regexp44 = minister[%d]* | regexp45 = minister_from[%d]* | regexp46 = minority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp47 = minority_leader[%d]* | regexp48 = minorityleader[%d]* | regexp49 = module[%d]* | regexp50 = monarch[%d]* | mother | name | nationality | native_name | native_name_lang | nickname | nocat | regexp51 = nominator[%d]* | nominee | occupation | regexp52 = office[%d]* | opponent | regexp53 = order[%d]* | otherparty | parents | regexp54 = parliament[%d]* | regexp55 = parliamentarygroup[%d]* | partner | party | party_election | portfolio | regexp56 = preceded[%d]* | regexp57 = preceding[%d]* | regexp58 = predecessor[%d]* | regexp59 = premier[%d]* | regexp60 = president[%d]* | regexp61 = primeminister[%d]* | regexp62 = prior_term[%d]* | profession | pronunciation | rank | rank_label | relations | relatives | residence | resting_place | resting_place_coordinates | restingplace | restingplacecoordinates | regexp63 = riding[%d]* | runningmate | salary | serviceyears | serviceyears_label | signature | signature_alt | signature_size | smallimage | smallimage_alt | source | speaker | speaker_office | spouse | spouses | regexp64 = state[%d]* | regexp65 = state_assembly[%d]* | regexp66 = state_delegate[%d]* | regexp67 = state_house[%d]* | regexp68 = state_legislature[%d]* | regexp69 = state_senate[%d]* | regexp70 = status[%d]* | regexp71 = suboffice[%d]* | regexp72 = subterm[%d]* | regexp73 = succeeded[%d]* | regexp74 = succeeding[%d]* | regexp75 = successor[%d]* | regexp76 = taoiseach[%d]* | regexp77 = term[%d]* | regexp78 = term_end[%d]* | regexp79 = term_label[%d]* | regexp80 = term_start[%d]* | regexp81 = termend[%d]* | regexp82 = termlabel[%d]* | regexp83 = termstart[%d]* | regexp84 = title[%d]* | unit | unit_label | regexp85 = vicegovernor[%d]* | regexp86 = vicepremier[%d]* | regexp87 = vicepresident[%d]* | regexp88 = viceprimeminister[%d]* | regexp89 = assuming[%d]* | website | width | year }} Peter Harry Steve Griffiths (Not to be confused with Peter Griffin) (24 May 1928 – 20 November 2013) was a British Conservative politician best known for gaining the Smethwick seat by defeating the Shadow Foreign Secretary Patrick Gordon Walker in the 1964 general election, against the national trend, by using anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Early lifeEdit

Griffiths was born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, and attended West Bromwich Grammar School. He was educated at Leeds Teacher Training College and, after his National Service, studied for an external London University economics degree and a master's degree in education at Birmingham University, while teaching in West Bromwich.<ref name=telegraph>Template:Cite news</ref> From 1962, he was the head of Hall Green Road primary school, West Bromwich.<ref name="telegraph"/>

Griffiths was elected to Smethwick County Borough Council in 1955.<ref name=ww>Who's Who 2007</ref> At the 1959 election, he stood against Smethwick's sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Patrick Gordon Walker for the first time, and succeeded in reducing Gordon Walker's majority from 6,495 to 3,544. Griffiths became leader of the council's Conservative group in 1960,<ref name="telegraph"/> serving as a local councillor until 1963 when he resigned to stand again for the Smethwick parliamentary seat in the forthcoming general election.

Elected MP for SmethwickEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Labour's victory in the 1964 election had been predicted, and Patrick Gordon Walker, who had been Shadow Foreign Secretary for 18 months, was expected to hold on to his seat.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Instead, Griffiths gained the seat for the Conservatives on a 7% swing, in a county borough that had the highest percentage of recent immigrants to England.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Racial discrimination was common in the constituency and nationally; the local Labour club operated a colour bar.<ref name="Stanley">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Jeffries">Template:Cite news</ref>

In what Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson later described as an "utterly squalid" campaign,<ref name=telegraph/> Conservative party members were accused of having used the slogan "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Liberal or Labour".<ref>Childs, P., Storry, M. (1999) Encyclopaedia of contemporary British culture, London: Routledge p. 13</ref><ref>Geddes, A. (2003) The politics of migration and immigration in Europe, London: Sage Publications, p. 34</ref> Colin Jordan, a British Neo-Nazi and leader of the British Movement, said that members of his group had produced the initial slogan as well as spread the poster and sticker campaign; Jordan's group in the past had also campaigned on other slogans, such as: "Don't vote – a vote for Tory, Labour or Liberal is a vote for more Blacks!".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Although Griffiths himself did not coin the phrase or approve its use,<ref name="FootLRB">Template:Cite news Template:Subscription required</ref> he declined to disown it.<ref name="Jeffries"/> The Times quoted Griffiths as saying: "I would not condemn any man who said that. I regard it as a manifestation of popular feeling",<ref name="Jeffries"/> adding that the quote represented "exasperation, not fascism".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He denied that there was any "resentment in Smethwick on the grounds of race or colour".<ref name=telegraph/>

Griffiths' defeat of Gordon Walker resulted in Harold Wilson claiming in the House of Commons that Griffiths should "serve his term here as a parliamentary leper".<ref name="TimesObit">Template:Cite news</ref> Conservatives urged the Speaker, Harry Hylton-Foster, to force Wilson to withdraw the comment. While the Speaker objected to such language, he refused to censure the Prime Minister, and order in the Commons chamber was not restored for ten minutes.<ref name="telegraph"/> In his maiden speech in the Commons, Griffiths pointed out the problems faced by local industry and drew attention to the fact that 4,000 families were awaiting local authority accommodation.<ref>Hansard, 1964</ref> Griffiths remained an alderman in Smethwick until 1966. He both supported and arranged for Smethwick council to purchase a row of houses with the intention of letting them exclusively to white families.<ref name="telegraph"/><ref name="Stanley"/> The government's Housing minister, Richard Crossman, was able to block this proposal by refusing the council permission to borrow the money required.<ref name="telegraph"/>

Griffiths was defeated by the actor and Labour candidate Andrew Faulds in the 1966 general election.<ref name="TimesObit"/> Griffiths wrote his own account of his election in 1964. In A Question of Colour (1966), he said that he had "no colour prejudice".<ref name="TimesObit"/> In the book he considered South Africa to be "a model of Parliamentary democracy" and that "Apartheid, if it could be separated from racialism, could well be an alternative to integration". Griffiths also blamed immigration from the Caribbean for the spread of disease.<ref name="telegraph"/><ref name="Jeffries"/>

Later life and careerEdit

In 1967, he became a lecturer in economics at Portsmouth College of Technology.<ref name="TimesObit"/> After a year as an exchange professor in California, he returned to what became Portsmouth Polytechnic, until he returned to Parliament.<ref name=telegraph/>

Griffiths unsuccessfully stood for Portsmouth North constituency at the February 1974 general election, but was elected for the seat at the 1979 general election. He held the constituency until the Labour landslide at the 1997 election, when he was defeated.<ref name="TimesObit"/>

Personal life and deathEdit

He was married to Jeannette (née Rubery); the couple had a son and daughter.<ref name="ww"/>

Griffiths died on 20 November 2013, aged 85.<ref name="TimesObit"/>

ReferencesEdit

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BibliographyEdit

Template:Cite book
Pearce, R. (2004) "Walker, Patrick Chrestien Gordon, Baron Gordon-Walker (1907–1980)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, accessed 26 Aug 2007 (subscription required)
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Who's Who 2007, "Griffiths, Peter Harry Steve", accessed 26 August 2007 (subscription required)

External linksEdit

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