Phillips was born in Glasgow, the eldest of seven children, and the grandson of Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe.
He served in Iraq, India, Burma, Ceylon and Malaya, and reached the rank of major in the Indian Army.
While he was in India, probably in mid-1943, he was sent to the School of Japanese Instruction at Simla and completed a six-month language course for intelligence work.
He retired in 1977, and enjoyed a second career of ten years as resident representative for Taylor Woodrow.
In 2023, the Phillips Room was dedicated to him at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in King Charles Street, London.