Editing Trevor Phillips

{{short description|British television producer (born 1953)}}
{{other uses}}
{{Over-quotation|date=July 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| image               = Flickr - boellstiftung - Trevor Phillips.jpg
| imagesize           = 200px
| caption             = Phillips in 2010
| name                = Sir Trevor Phillips
| honorific-suffix    = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE|ARCS|FIC}}
| office              = Chair of the [[London Assembly]]
| term_start          = May 2002
| term_end            = February 2003
| predecessor         = [[Sally Hamwee]]
| successor           = [[Sally Hamwee]]
| term_start1         = 4 May 2000
| term_end1           = May 2001
| predecessor1        = ''Office established''
| successor1          = [[Sally Hamwee]]
| office2             = [[London Assembly|Member of the London Assembly]]<br/>as the [[List of London Assembly constituencies|1st Additional Member]]
| assembly2           = London
| term_start2         = 4 May 2000
| term_end2           = February 2003
| majority2           = 
| predecessor2        = ''New constituency''
| successor2          = [[Diana Johnson]]
| birth_name          = Mark Trevor Phillips
| birth_date          = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1953|12|31}}
| birth_place         = [[Islington]], London, England
| nationality         = British
| party               = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]<ref name = "Suspension">{{Cite news|date=2021-07-06|title=Labour lifts Trevor Phillips' suspension for alleged Islamophobia|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/06/labour-lifts-trevor-phillips-suspension-for-alleged-islamophobia|access-date=2021-07-06|work=[[The Guardian]]|last=Siddique|first=Haroon|language=en}}</ref>
| spouse              = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Asha Bhownagary|1981|2009|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Helen Veale|2013}}
}}
| children            = 2
| residence           = 
| alma_mater          = [[Imperial College London]]
| occupation          = 
| profession          = 
| religion            = 
| signature           = 
| website             = 
| footnotes           = 
}}

'''Sir Mark Trevor Phillips''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE|ARCS|FIC}} (born 31 December 1953) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician who served as Chair of the [[London Assembly]] from 2000 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2003. He presented ''[[Sophy Ridge on Sunday|Trevor Phillips on Sunday]]'', a [[Sunday morning talk show]] on [[Sky News]], from 2021 to 2022, and currently presents ''Sunday Morning'' on Sky News since 2023.  

Phillips was appointed head of the [[Commission for Racial Equality]] (CRE) by Prime Minister [[Tony Blair]] in 2003 and was the chairman of its successor, the [[Equality and Human Rights Commission]] (EHRC), from 2007 to 2012. He has been a television presenter and executive.

After retirement, he continued to chair numerous corporate and social boards. Phillips was the President of the Partnership Council of the [[John Lewis Partnership]] from 2015 to 2019 and was the first external appointment for the role since 1928.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/media/press/y2015/press-release-20-february-2015-appointment-of-partnership-council-president.html|title=John Lewis Partnership – Appointment of Partnership Council President|author=John Lewis PLC and Tacit Knowledge}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Mark Trevor Phillips was born in [[Islington]], London, the youngest of ten children.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=BkicbjwH3c6A93co6sQE4g&scan=1|title=Index entry|access-date=12 April 2016|work=FreeBMD|publisher=ONS}}</ref> His parents emigrated from [[British Guiana]] (now Guyana) in 1950. He spent his childhood partly in British Guiana, and partly in [[Wood Green]], [[north London]]; he attended [[Woodside High School, Wood Green|Wood Green County Grammar School]], but took his A-levels at [[Queen's College, Guyana|Queen's College]] in [[Georgetown, Guyana]]. He returned to England to study at [[Imperial College London]], where he obtained a [[Bachelor of Science|BSc]] degree in [[chemistry]] in 1975.<ref>[https://www.imperial.ac.uk/chemistry/alumni/ Chemistry Alumni Profiles (including Trevor Phillips)] - website of Imperial College London.</ref><ref>[https://www.imperial.ac.uk/centenary/current_campus_renewal_project_details.shtml "Housing some of the best minds"] - website of Imperial College London.</ref>

==Broadcasting and writing career==
Phillips worked initially as a researcher for [[London Weekend Television]] (LWT), before being promoted to head of current affairs in 1992, remaining in the post until 1994. He produced and presented ''[[The London Programme]]'' for LWT and has worked on projects for the [[BBC]] and [[Channel 4]]. With his brother, the crime writer [[Mike Phillips (writer)|Mike Phillips]], he wrote ''[[Windrush generation|Windrush]]: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-racial Britain''.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Phillips | first1=Mike | last2=Phillips | first2=Trevor | title=Windrush | publisher=HarperCollins Publishers | publication-place=London | date=1998 | isbn=0-00-255909-9}}</ref> He has won three [[Royal Television Society]] (RTS) awards, including Documentary Series of the Year for ''Windrush'' in 1999. He is a Vice President of the [[Royal Television Society|RTS]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://rts.org.uk/about-us/vice-presidents-and-fellows|title=Vice Presidents and Fellows|date=14 November 2018 |publisher=Royal Television Society|access-date=1 January 2022}}</ref>

In March 2015, Channel 4 broadcast ''Things We Won't Say About Race (That Are True)'', a feature-length documentary written and presented by Phillips and co-produced by Pepper Productions and Outline Productions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.outlineproductions.co.uk/productions/things-we-wont-say-about-race-that-are-true/|title=Things We Won't Say About Race – That Are True|author=Potter & Web|work=Outline Productions}}</ref> Phillips was invited to analyse and interpret the survey{{clarify|reason=What survey? No survey is mentioned anywhere else in the article|date=March 2020}} for the documentary ''What British Muslims Really Think'' aired April 2016, which followed similar themes to ''Things We Won't Say About Race (That Are True)'' relating to exploring racial truths through statistics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/c4-survey-and-documentary-reveals-what-british-muslims-really-think/|title=C4 survey and documentary reveals what British muslims really think|publisher=Channel 4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/apr/21/channel-4-what-british-muslims-really-think-complaints|title=Channel 4's What British Muslims Really Think draws more than 200 complaints|first=John|last=Plunkett|newspaper=The Guardian|date=21 April 2016}}</ref>

From 2021 to 2022, Phillips covered for [[Sophy Ridge]]'s [[Sky News]] Sunday morning programme ''[[Sophy Ridge on Sunday]]'' while she was on maternity leave. His programme was temporarily rebranded as ''Trevor Phillips on Sunday''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 May 2021 |title=Trevor Phillips to take on hosting Sophy Ridge on Sunday |url=https://www.skygroup.sky/article/trevor-phillips-to-take-on-hosting-sophy-ridge-on-sunday_ |access-date=6 September 2021 |website=Sky}}</ref>

==Political activity==
As a student at Imperial he became president of its [[students' union]].  In 1978 he was elected president of the [[National Union of Students (United Kingdom)|National Union of Students]] as a candidate for the [[Broad Left]].{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}

Phillips was  chairman of the [[Runnymede Trust]], a [[think-tank]] promoting ethnic equality, from 1993 to 1998, and a commissioner for a number of other charities. He also served as chairman of the [[London Arts Board]]. His long-standing friendship with [[Peter Mandelson]], who worked with Phillips at LWT and was best man at his first wedding, brought him close to the [[New Labour]] project, and he became friendly with [[Tony Blair]]. Phillips joined the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in London in 1996.

In 1999 Phillips ran to be Labour's candidate in the [[2000 London mayoral election|2000 election for the first Mayor of London]]. Phillips was initially Blair's preferred choice for the role. When Blair called for the party to swiftly unite behind one candidate, [[Ken Livingstone]], a left-winger and favourite to win the nomination, offered to form a joint ticket with Phillips as his running mate. Phillips described Livingstone's offer as "patronising" in a response that was seen as an accusation of racism, though Phillips later denied this.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/369935.stm "Phillips accuses Livingstone of racism"], ''[[BBC News]]'', 16 June 1999; Minnette Marrin, [http://www.minettemarrin.com/minettemarrin/1999/06/playing_the_rac.html "Playing the race card"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071108164604/http://www.minettemarrin.com/minettemarrin/1999/06/playing_the_rac.html |date=8 November 2007 }}, ''[[The Sunday Telegraph]]'', 20 June 1999.</ref> Following this and other controversies, including his decision to send his children to a private school, Phillips withdrew from the race a few months later and was not on the final shortlist of candidates. Instead, he accepted an offer to be running mate to Labour's [[Frank Dobson]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jul/28/trevor-phillips-equalities-commission|title=Trevor Phillips: a career in crisis|first=Hugh|last=Muir|newspaper=The Guardian|date=28 July 2009}}</ref>
Although Dobson won the nomination, his candidature was harmed by the perception that the contest was "fixed" by the use of an electoral college.<ref>{{cite news|first=Robert |last=Shrimsley|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/2000/02/21/ndob121.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021120102332/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/2000/02/21/ndob121.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2002-11-20 |title=How Blair put the block on Red Ken|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date= 21 February 2000}}</ref> Livingstone ran as an independent and won. The Labour Party designated Phillips as a member of the [[London Assembly]] on 4 May 2000 as one of its "top-up" candidates. Phillips served as chairman of the Assembly until February 2003, resigning his seat to take up his appointment at the [[Commission for Racial Equality]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2003/jan/17/equality.raceequality|title=Phillips named as head of race watchdog|first=Mark|last=Oliver|newspaper=The Guardian|date=17 January 2003}}</ref>

In March 2020, Phillips was suspended from Labour following allegations of [[Islamophobia]]. Following the suspension, Phillips defended his comments about [[British Muslims]] on [[BBC Radio 4]]'s [[Today (BBC Radio 4)|''Today'' programme]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Walker|first1=Peter|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/09/labour-suspends-former-head-of-ehrc-over-alleged-islamophobia|title=Trevor Phillips dismayed at Labour suspension over Muslim comments|date=9 March 2020|work=The Guardian|access-date=9 March 2020|last2=Gelder|first2=Sam|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The suspension was lifted in July 2021.<ref name = "Suspension"/>

===Multiculturalism: disagreements with Ken Livingstone===
Phillips and Livingstone had a frosty relationship throughout Phillips's time on the London Assembly, and Phillips's opposition to [[multiculturalism]] saw them clash time and again during his tenure at the CRE. In a ''Times'' interview in April 2004, Phillips said the government should stop supporting multiculturalism, saying it was out of date and legitimised "separateness" between communities, and instead should "assert a core of Britishness".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Baldwin|first1=Tom|last2=Rozenberg|first2=Gabriel|title=Britain 'must scrap multiculturalism'|language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/britain-must-scrap-multiculturalism-mt2vhmfpgwd|work=[[The Times]]|date=3 April 2004|access-date=26 April 2021|issn=0140-0460}}</ref>

In 2006, Livingstone accused Phillips of "pandering to the right" so much that he "would soon join the [[British National Party|BNP]]".<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5301498.stm "Mayor's BNP outburst at Phillips"], BBC News, 1 September 2006.</ref> Phillips replied that his views had been "well documented" and "well supported". Phillips has made speeches stating that "it was right to ask hard questions about multicultural Britain". Although he apologised for his presentation of research by the Australian academic Michael Poulsen of statistics on levels of segregation, which had led to some controversy, he welcomed the focus on integration of different communities after the launch of A Commission for Integration and Cohesion.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5297760.stm "UK race chief in ghetto apology"], BBC News, 30 August 2006.</ref> Phillips subsequently cited later work by, among others, Professor [[Eric Kaufmann]] of [[Birkbeck College]], [[London University]], showing that white and non-white segregation in London and Birmingham increased during the census period to 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.demos.co.uk/press_releases/riseofcomfortzonesegregation |title=Demos |access-date=16 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324061253/http://demos.co.uk/press_releases/riseofcomfortzonesegregation |archive-date=24 March 2015  }}</ref>

After the 2005 riots in France, Phillips warned that "inequality, race and powerlessness" can be "incendiary". He was invited to advise the French government and in September 2007 was made a [[Legion of Honour|Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/Mr-Trevor-Phillips-made-Chevalier.html |publisher=French Embassy in London|title= Mr Trevor Phillips made Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur {{!}} Ambassador's speech|date=13 September 2007}} {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420160328/http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/Mr-Trevor-Phillips-made-Chevalier.html |date=20 April 2008 }}</ref>

Phillips wrote in May 2016: "Rome may not yet be in flames, but I think I can smell the smouldering whilst we hum to the music of liberal self-delusion" by ignoring the effects of mass immigration to the United Kingdom, explicitly comparing his warning to [[Enoch Powell]]'s 1968 [[Rivers of Blood speech|"Rivers of Blood" speech]].<ref name="bingham20160510">{{Cite news |last=Bingham |first=John |date=10 May 2016 |title=Britain 'sleepwalking to catastrophe' over race: Trevor Phillips |language=en-GB |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/10/britain-sleepwalking-to-catastrophe-over-race-trevor-phillips/ |access-date=16 June 2020 |issn=0307-1235}}</ref>

===Views on free speech===
Phillips has spoken on the need for free speech to "allow people to offend each other". These comments came after the protests against the Danish cartoons satirising the Islamic prophet Muhammad, which sparked protests in the Muslim community. He stated in an ITV interview: "One point of Britishness is that people can say what they like about the way we should live, however absurd, however unpopular it is."<ref>{{cite news|date=26 February 2006|title=Muslims 'must accept' free speech|language=en-GB|publisher=[[BBC News]]|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4752804.stm}}</ref>

While supporting free speech, Phillips has spoken out against providing the [[far-right politics|far right]] with a platform. Discussing the [[Oxford Union]]'s invitation to [[British National Party|BNP]] leader [[Nick Griffin]] and Holocaust denier [[David Irving]], he told the BBC's ''[[Andrew Marr Show]]'': "As a former president of the National Union of Students, I'm ashamed that this has happened. This is not a question of freedom of speech, this is a juvenile provocation." Griffin has since hit back at Phillips by declaring him a "black racist" in an interview given to Channel 4.<ref>{{cite news|last=Williams|first=Rachel|date=26 November 2007|title='Awful, abhorrent' – but Oxford insists the debate must go on|work=The Guardian|location=London|url=http://politics.guardian.co.uk/otherparties/story/0,,2217120,00.html|access-date=26 May 2010}}</ref>

===Opposition to 42-day detention===
In early June 2008 Phillips as EHRC head said that he "remain[ed] unpersuaded that the government has yet provided compelling evidence for what our legal advice shows would be an effective suspension of some human rights".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kirkup|first1=James|last2=Porter|first2=Andrew|date=10 June 2008|title=MI5 chief speaks out over terror law row|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2103465/MI5-chief-speaks-out-over-terror-law-row.html|access-date=26 May 2010}}</ref> Phillips was responding to the growing uproar surrounding proposals to amend counter-terrorism legislation to permit 42 days' detention without charge. He raised the possibility of the EHRC legally testing the legislation by judicial review. In the event, the [[Brown ministry|Brown government]] maintained the limit on detention without charge at 28 days (although in practice a 14-day limit was observed). Following the installation of a [[Cameron–Clegg coalition|Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government]], the limit was in January 2011 allowed to revert to 14 days.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}

===Views on Islam===
In 1996 Phillips initiated and sat on the [[Runnymede Trust]]'s Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia, whose report ''Islamophobia: a challenge for us all'' reviewed the state of anti-Muslim prejudice in the UK. The report helped establish the term "Islamophobia" in UK discourse and it noted that abuse against Muslims was often racialised therefore "a legal term such as ‘religious and racial violence’ is required". It also stated that Islamophobia stemmed from closed views seeing British Muslims as monolithic, separate, and different.<ref>[https://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/publications/pdfs/islamophobia.pdf Islamophobia A Challenge For Us All]. Runnymede Trust. Retrieved 6 July 2021.</ref>

The Commission's proposals were in part implemented in UK legislation in the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 and the Equality Act 2010, both of which he influenced as Chair of the EHRC. Phillips later developed his views and in 2016, as part of his Channel 4 documentary ''What British Muslims Really Think'', he said that the commission had correctly recognised the existence of incidents of abuse against British Muslims "but we got almost everything else wrong".<ref>Clarke-Billings, Lucy (4 November 2016), [https://www.newsweek.com/muslims-are-creating-nations-within-nations-says-former-head-uk-equalities-446163 "Muslims Are Creating 'Nations Within Nations' Says Former Head of U.K. Equalities Commission"]. ''Newsweek''.</ref> Phillips's own analysis for ''The Sunday Times'' asserted that the reference to the creation of a "nation within a nation" is not to Muslims as a whole, but to a significant minority and that the documentary acknowledged the diversity among British Muslims.

He went on to say that far from suggesting that Muslims as a group are in some way at fault, he questioned whether the rest of Britain needed to re-examine its own norms and behaviours.<ref>Phillips, Trevor (10 April 2016). [https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/my-sons-living-hell-j72t7fppc What do British Muslims really think?]. ''The Times''. Retrieved 6 July 2021.</ref>

Responses to the documentary were mixed. In ''[[The Spectator]]'', political commentator [[Douglas Murray (author)|Douglas Murray]] praised Phillips's ability to "break taboos which too many liberals in the UK are keen to continue enforcing", calling Islamophobia a "fraudulent concept", while his colleague [[James Delingpole]] said it was a "brave and honest programme", and the British public knew "large numbers of Muslims don't want to integrate, that their views aren't remotely enlightened".<ref>Delingpole, James (16 April 2016). [https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/an-inconvenient-truth-14-april-2016 "An inconvenient truth | 14 April 2016"]. ''The Spectator''. Retrieved 6 July 2021.</ref> [[Simon Woolley, Baron Woolley of Woodford|Simon Woolley]], founder of [[Operation Black Vote]], said the documentary pandered to prejudice, treated Muslims as a monolithic group and gave "no historical or social/political context".<ref>[https://www.obv.org.uk/news-blogs/trevor-phillipss-muslim-report-panders-prejudice "Trevor Phillips's Muslim report: Panders to prejudice"]. Operation Black Vote (11 April 2016). Retrieved 6 July 2021.</ref> Writing for the ''Middle East Eye'', [[Peter Oborne]] said Phillips had employed a double standard to attack social conservatism by comparing British Muslim views against Britain as a whole, rather than against other UK religious groups. In terms of views on homosexuality, religious devotion, and the role of women, Oborne said "Phillips could have carried out a similar poll of Conservative Party activists, of Roman Catholics, of orthodox Jews, or many other religious minorities and come up with something roughly similar."<ref>Oborne, Peter (15 April 2016). [https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/double-standards-trevor-phillips The double standards of Trevor Phillips]. ''Middle East Eye''. Retrieved 6 July 2021.</ref>

In August 2017, following the conviction of 17 men and one woman in Newcastle for child sex abuse offences Phillips wrote that the description of the men as simply "Asian" was an injustice to the majority of the UK's Asian population, including many Muslims.<ref>Phillips, Trevor (2017-08-10). [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/10/abuse-time-call-spade-spade/ On abuse it's time to call a spade a spade]. ''The Times''. Retrieved 6 July 2021.</ref> A Home Office report subsequently showed child sexual abuse gangs were typically divided on race lines, but more widely that the majority of child sex offenders were made up of white men under the age of 30.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/dec/15/child-sexual-abuse-gangs-white-men-home-office-report |title=Most child sexual abuse gangs made up of white men, Home Office report say|first=Jamie |last=Grierson|newspaper=The Guardian|date=15 December 2020|access-date=6 July 2021}}</ref>

Phillips was suspended from the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] pending investigation into alleged Islamophobia based on his past statements, a move which he called "[[Jeremy Corbyn|Corbyn]]ista payback" and "pure political gangsterism". Labour MP [[Khalid Mahmood (British politician)|Khalid Mahmood]] defended Phillips saying the "charges are so outlandish as to bring disrepute on all involved in making them".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/trevor-phillips-s-fate-should-terrify-us-all |title=Trevor Phillips's fate should terrify us all|first=Hardeep|last= Singh|magazine=The Spectator|date=10 March 2020|access-date= 6 July 2021}}</ref> Phillips defended his statements on BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme, reiterating his view that Muslims should not be treated as a racial group and saying "Muslims are different, and in many ways I think that’s admirable". Asked about his generalisations about British Muslims he said "if you do belong to a group...you identify with a particular set of values, and you stand for it. And frankly you are judged by that". Conservative Member of the House of Lords [[Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi|Sayeeda Warsi]] responded that "Phillips cannot treat Muslims as a homogenised group when it suits him, then later deny they are racialised".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/mar/09/labour-suspends-former-head-of-ehrc-over-alleged-islamophobia |title=Sayeeda Warsi chides Trevor Phillips over Muslim comments|first=Kate|last= Proctor|author2= Peter Walker |author3= Sam Gelder|newspaper=The Guardian|date=9 March 2020|access-date= 6 July 2021}}</ref>

Phillips has pointed out that his actual remarks were reported by ''The Times'' on 27 January 2016.<ref>Ford, Richard (27 January 2016), [https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/muslims-are-not-like-us-race-equality-chief-says-699cvlh9jx0 "Muslims are not like us, race equality chief says"], ''The Times''.</ref>

Phillips's suspension from the Labour Party was lifted in June 2021, though investigations had not concluded.<ref>Siddique, Haroon (6 July 2021). [https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jul/06/labour-lifts-trevor-phillips-suspension-for-alleged-islamophobia Labour lifts Trevor Phillips’ suspension for alleged Islamophobia]. ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 6 July 2021.</ref>

==Boards and appointments==
Phillips is chairman of Green Park Interim and Executive Recruitment, director of WebberPhillips, a data analytics provider.<ref name="guardian-20200727">{{cite news|last=Siddique|first=Haroon|date=27 July 2020|title=Met use software which the Guardian incorrectly reported has been deployed to see if ethnic groups 'specialise' in areas of crime|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/27/met-police-use-software-ethnic-groups-specialise-profile|access-date=27 July 2020}}</ref><ref>[https://webberphillips.com Webber Phillips] website.</ref> He was the cofounder and director of Pepper Productions, an independent television production company, now dormant following the demise of co-founder Charles Armitage.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} He has been a member of the board of the [[Barbican Arts Centre]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.barbican.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2018-09/annualreview_201718.PDF|title=Who's Who|work=Barbican Review 2017/18|publisher=barbican.org.uk|page=23|date=September 2018}}</ref> the Council of [[Aldeburgh Music]], and a trustee of the Social Mobility Foundation, among other charities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rarerecruitment.co.uk/rrs2019/Trevor_Phillips.php|title=The Judges {{!}} Trevor Phillips OBE|website=Rare Rising Stars|date=2019|access-date=2 January 2022}}</ref>

===Equality and Human Rights Commission===
Phillips became head of the [[Commission for Racial Equality]] in 2003, and on its abolition in 2006 was appointed full-time chairman of its successor, the EHRC (initially called the Commission for Equality and Human Rights), which had a broader remit of combating discrimination and promoting equality across other grounds (age, disability, sex, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation and gender reassignment).<ref>Dodd, Vikram (4 September 2006). [https://www.theguardian.com/humanrights/story/0,,1864202,00.html "Ministers pick Phillips to lead new human rights and equalities body"], ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 29 April 2020.</ref> The EHRC also had the role of promoting and defending human rights, and secured recognition as the [[National human rights institutions|national human rights institution]] for England and Wales (alongside separate commissions in Northern Ireland and Scotland). Phillips's tenure as EHRC chairman (which at his request became a part-time position in 2009) was at times controversial.{{citation needed|date=July 2021}}

Phillips's tenure as [[Equality and Human Rights Commission|EHRC]] chairman is the longest for any individual in any similar position in the UK. It was said to be dogged by controversies and internal dissent. Under his leadership, six of the body's commissioners departed after expressing concerns about his leadership and probity and others were reported to be considering their position.<ref>Jones, Sam; [[Afua Hirsch|Hirsch, Afua]] (21 July 2009). [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jul/21/trevor-phillips-equality-human-rights-commission "Rebels turn on Trevor Phillips' leadership of rights body"], ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 6 July 2021.</ref><ref>Jones, Sam; Sturcke, James. (25 July 2009) [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jul/24/ben-summerskill-quits-ehrc "New resignation hits Equality and Human Rights Commission"], ''The Guardian''. Retrieved 6 July 2021.</ref> However, they were replaced and Phillips later completed his term in September 2012.

In 2010 Phillips was investigated regarding alleged attempts to influence a Parliamentary committee (the Joint Committee on Human Rights) writing a report on him. He would have been the first non-politician in over half a century to be convicted of [[contempt of Parliament]], but the Lords Committee found that the allegations were "subjective, and that no firm factual evidence is presented in their support; nor are they borne out by the submissions by individual members of the JCHR."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/cy/hafan/canolfan-cyfryngau/2010/gorffennaf/commission-chair-trevor-phillips-cleared-of-contempt-allegations |title=Commission Chair Trevor Phillips cleared of contempt allegations &#124; Comisiwn Cydraddoldeb a Hawliau Dynol |access-date=17 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150704163729/http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/cy/hafan/canolfan-cyfryngau/2010/gorffennaf/commission-chair-trevor-phillips-cleared-of-contempt-allegations |archive-date=4 July 2015  }}</ref> He was cleared of contempt of Parliament and the House of Lords recommended that new and clearer guidance about the conduct of witnesses to Select Committees be issued.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tsoshop.co.uk/parliament/bookstore.asp?FO=38797&Action=Book&ProductID=9780108472541|title=Mr Trevor Phillips: allegation of contempt first report of session 2010–11}}</ref> However, he was told his behaviour was "inappropriate and ill-advised".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8795641.stm | work=[[BBC News]] | title=Phillips 'not guilty of contempt' | date=7 July 2010|access-date = 6 July 2021}}</ref>

Phillips completed his second term of office in September 2012, which, together with his term at the CRE made him the longest serving leader of any UK equality commission.{{fact|date=March 2020}}

In 2006 Phillips said that Britain's current approach to multiculturalism could cause Britain to "sleepwalk towards segregation".<ref>{{cite web|first=Dominic |last=Casciani|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5304276.stm |title=So who's right over segregation?|website=[[BBC News]]|date=4 September 2006}}</ref> He expanded on these views in 2016 in a publication by Civitas entitled ''Race and Faith: the Deafening Silence'', in which he said that "squeamishness about addressing diversity and its discontents risks allowing our country to sleepwalk to a catastrophe that will set community against community, endorse sexist aggression, suppress freedom of expression, reverse hard-won civil liberties, and undermine the liberal democracy that has served this country so well for so long."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.civitas.org.uk/publications/race-and-faith/|title=Race and Faith: The Deafening Silence|first=Trevor |last=Phillips|date=10 May 2016|website=Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society|access-date=8 May 2018}}</ref>

==Comparisons between Britain and the United States==
In an article published in 2003,<ref>Trevor Phillips (18 August 2003), [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/aug/18/usa.comment "More Than Skin Deep"], ''The Guardian''; also reproduced on the [http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0818-01.htm Common Dreams] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061121000126/http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0818-01.htm |date=21 November 2006 }} website.</ref> Phillips stated that "from Rome, through Constantinople to Venice and London, our (European) nations have a history of peacefully absorbing huge, diverse movements of people, driven by war, famine and persecution; and there is no history of long-term ethnic segregation of the kind one can see in any US city".

In a March 2008 article for [https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/arts-and-books/trevor-phillips-responds ''Prospect'' magazine], Phillips supported [[Barack Obama]] as a potential Presidential candidate, and speculated that if he did become President it might "postpone the arrival of a [[post-racial America]]".<ref>Trevor Phillips, [https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/healingpostponed "Healing postponed"], ''Prospect'', 28 March 2008.</ref> Following Obama's election, in an interview for ''[[The Times]]'' on 8 November 2008,<ref>{{cite news|work=[[BBC News]]|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7717149.stm|title=Bias 'would hamper British Obama'|date = 8 November 2008|access-date = 29 April 2020}}</ref> Phillips said that he believed it would be impossible for a black candidate in the United Kingdom to rise to the top in politics because of [[institutional racism]] within the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], saying:
<blockquote>If Barack Obama had lived here I would be very surprised if even somebody as brilliant as him would have been able to break through the institutional stranglehold that there is on power within the Labour party.<ref>{{cite news|last=Siddique|first=Haroon|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/nov/08/race-barack-obama-britain|title=Racism would block British Barack Obama, says Trevor Phillips|date=2008-11-08|work=[[The Guardian]]|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
</blockquote>
The comments received support and criticism from members of ethnic communities in the UK.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/labour-racism-would-block-british-obama-says-trevor-phillips-sf5wzhtwdjf|title=Labour 'racism' would block British Obama, says Trevor Phillips|last=Sylvester|first=Rachel|date=8 November 2008|work=[[The Times]]}}</ref>

==Honours==
Phillips was appointed [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in the [[1999 New Year Honours]] for services to broadcast journalism.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=55354 |date=31 December 1998 |page=12 |supp=y}}</ref>

He received a [[knight bachelor|knighthood]] in the [[2022 New Year Honours]] in recognition of his services to equality and human rights.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=63571|supp=y|page=N2|date=1 January 2022}}</ref><ref name=Metro>{{cite news|url=https://metro.co.uk/2021/12/31/trevor-phillips-knighted-in-new-year-honours-for-services-to-human-rights-15846140/|title=Broadcaster Trevor Phillips knighted in New Year Honours for services to equality and human rights|first=Kim|last= Novak|newspaper=[[Metro (British newspaper)|Metro]]|date=31 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-59839510|title=New Year's Honours: Veteran broadcaster Moira Stuart made CBE|work=[[BBC News]]|date=31 December 2021|access-date=1 January 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/broadcaster-trevor-phillips-knighted-honours-223000193.html|title=Broadcaster Trevor Phillips knighted in New Year Honours|first=Mike|last=Bedigan|website=Yahoo!news|date=31 December 2021|access-date=2 January 2022}}</ref>

In 2007, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by [[Loughborough University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=University Honours archive {{!}} Graduation {{!}} Loughborough University |url=https://www.lboro.ac.uk/students/graduation/honorary-graduates/archive/ |access-date=2024-02-07 |website=www.lboro.ac.uk}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Phillips married Asha Bhownagary, a [[Parsi]] child psychotherapist with [[India]]n ancestry, in 1981 and they had two daughters,<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/trevor-phillips-role-model-426709.html | work=[[The Independent]] | author= Vallely, Paul|title=Trevor Phillips: role model? | date=2 December 2006|access-date = 29 April 2020}}</ref> one of whom, Sushila, died in April 2021 due to [[anorexia]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=22 April 2021|title=Daughter of Trevor Phillips dies after 22-year anorexia struggle|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/22/daughter-of-trevor-phillips-dies-after-battle-with-anorexia-sushila|author= Marsh, Sarah|access-date=28 June 2021|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141218103220/http://trevorphillips.net/ Official website]

==Further reading==
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3726046.stm BBC website profile]
*[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,,877933,00.html ''Observer'' report on Phillips]

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{{succession box|title=President of the [[National Union of Students (United Kingdom)|National Union of Students]]|years=1978–80|before=[[Sue Slipman]]|after=[[David Aaronovitch]]}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Trevor}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of Imperial College London]]
[[Category:Associates of the Royal College of Science]]
[[Category:Black British politicians]]
[[Category:Black British writers]]
[[Category:British broadcasters]]
[[Category:Commissioners for Racial Equality]]
[[Category:English people of Guyanese descent]]
[[Category:English television producers]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Institute of Chemistry]]
[[Category:John Lewis Partnership people]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Labour Members of the London Assembly]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Wood Green]]
[[Category:Presidents of the National Union of Students (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:London AMs 2000–2004]]