Griffiths continued his education by attending night school and became an active socialist. He helped establish a branch of the
Independent Labour Party in
Ammanford in 1908 and soon became its secretary. Later, he occupied the powerful post of secretary of the newly formed Ammanford Trades Council (1916–1919). At the age of 29, he left the colliery on a miner's scholarship (1919–1921) to the
Central Labour College, London, where at the same time
Aneurin Bevan and
Morgan Phillips were studying. On returning home, Griffiths worked as
Llanelli Labour Party agent (1922–1925), before becoming an agent for the
Anthracite Miners' Association (1925–1936), and President of the powerful
South Wales Miners' Federation – known locally as the Fed – in the
Anthracite district of West Wales (1934–1936). In 1936, he was elected Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for what was then
safe seat of Llanelli. Three years later, he continued his rise through the Labour movement by getting elected to the party's
National Executive Committee. In 1942, he led 97 Labour MP's to vote against the Labour Party's compromise with
Winston Churchill's
Conservative Party for the government to neither endorse nor condemn the
Beveridge Report recommending the establishment of a comprehensive
welfare state in
postwar Britain. Despite the defiance of the party leadership, the vote boosted Labour's popularity by demonstrating its support for the report's recommendations. Following Labour's victory at the
1945 general election, he was made a
Privy Counsellor and Minister for National Insurance by Prime Minister
Clement Attlee. In this role, he was responsible for creating the modern state benefit system. He introduced the
Family Allowances Act 1945, the
National Insurance Act 1946 and the National Assistance and Industrial Injuries Act 1948. Along with Bevan, he was one of the chief architects of the
British welfare state. He served as Chairman of the Labour Party (1948–1949), and in 1950 he became
Secretary of State for the Colonies. Within two years, though, the Labour Party was out of office. During the long period in opposition, Griffiths became
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (1955–1959), and spokesman on Welsh affairs. He used his good relationship with
Hugh Gaitskell to commit the Labour Party to a measure of
devolution. Amid the
Suez Crisis of 1956, he made an important speech opposing the underhanded tactics of the then Prime Minister
Anthony Eden in which he stated: "This is for our country a black and tragic week... an unjustifiable and wicked war". This was said to sum up the mood of many at the time. Given Griffiths' determination in having campaigned for a
Secretary of State for Wales ever since the 1930s,
Harold Wilson persuaded him to delay retirement and serve as the first Secretary of State for Wales following Labour's
1964 general election victory. At Wilson's instigation, Griffiths established the
Welsh Office and laid the foundations for the role until the
1966 general election, whereupon he returned to the backbenches. He was appointed a
Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour. Though by now suffering from ill-health, Griffiths avoided resigning from the
House of Commons, because he feared that if he did so, Labour would lose a by-election in Llanelli.
Plaid Cymru had captured the neighbouring seat of
Carmarthen in 1966; and the Llanelli Rugby coach
Carwyn James was poised to stand for Plaid Cymru in a by-election, had Griffiths stood down. He remained in Parliament until the
1970 general election, by which time he was about to turn 80 and was among Parliament's oldest MPs, and among the few born in the 19th century. He was succeeded in Llanelli by
Denzil Davies, who fended off the Plaid Cymru challenge. Similarly to Griffiths, Davies would remain MP for the constituency for around 35 years. The previous year, Griffiths had published his autobiography,
Pages From Memory (London: Dent, 1969). ==Personal life==