He called for recognition of middle class aspiration for wealth, home ownership and leisure opportunities, and warned against excessive emphasis on nationalisation.
Nevertheless, Phillips and the party organization he led were blamed by some for the defeat in the 1955 general election: a post-mortem conducted by Harold Wilson labelled the party's organization as a "penny farthing [an antiquated model of bicycle] in a jet age".
In 1957, Phillips joined Aneurin Bevan and Richard Crossman in suing The Spectator magazine for libel.
An article had been published by The Spectator describing the men as drinking heavily during a socialist conference in Italy.
Many years later, Crossman's posthumously published diaries confirmed the truth of the magazine's charges.
He suffered a stroke in August 1960, at the height of his career, and retired as General Secretary in 1961, dying in early 1963.