Editing Jim Griffiths (section)

==Political career==
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&ndash;1919). At the age of 29, he left the colliery on a miner's scholarship (1919&ndash;1921) to the [[Central Labour College]], London, where at the same time [[Aneurin Bevan]] and [[Morgan Phillips]] were studying.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://biography.wales/article/s6-GRIF-JAM-1890#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=31&manifest=https%3A%2F%2Fdamsssl.llgc.org.uk%2Fiiif%2F2.0%2F1507797%2Fmanifest.json&xywh=2375%2C1323%2C924%2C797|title=GRIFFITHS, JAMES (JEREMIAH) (1890–1975), Labour politician and cabinet minister|last=Jones|first=John Graham|website=Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig. Dictionary of Welsh Biography|access-date=27 July 2019}}</ref>

On returning home, Griffiths worked as [[Llanelly (UK Parliament constituency)|Llanelli]] [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] agent (1922&ndash;1925), before becoming an agent for the [[Anthracite Miners' Association]] (1925&ndash;1936), and President of the powerful [[South Wales Miners' Federation]] &ndash; known locally as the Fed &ndash; in the [[Anthracite]] district of West Wales  (1934&ndash;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 of the Labour Party|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 (UK)|Conservative Party]] for the government to neither endorse nor condemn the [[Beveridge Report]] recommending the establishment of a comprehensive [[welfare state]] in [[Post-war Britain (1945–1979)|postwar Britain]]. Despite the defiance of the party leadership, the vote boosted Labour's popularity by demonstrating its support for the report's recommendations.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thorpe |first=Andrew |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0 |title=A History of the British Labour Party |date=1997 |publisher=Macmillan Education UK |isbn=978-0-333-56081-5 |location=London |pages=107 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-25305-0 |ref=none}}</ref>

Following Labour's victory at the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|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&ndash;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 (UK)|Deputy Leader of the Labour Party]] (1955&ndash;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 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]] victory.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gower|first1=Jon|title=The story of Wales|date=2013|publisher=BBC|location=London|isbn=978-1-849-90373-8|page=320|edition=Paperback}}</ref> At Wilson's instigation, Griffiths established the [[Welsh Office]] and laid the foundations for the role until the [[1966 United Kingdom general election|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 of the United Kingdom|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 (UK Parliament constituency)|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 United Kingdom general election|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).