He is President of the Royal Society of Public Health and also serves as Chair of the All Party Group on Primary Care and Public Health. He is Treasurer of the Associate Parliamentary Health Group; Member of the board of General Medical Council; Secretary of the All-Party Group on the Constitution and Vice Chair of the All Party Group for Energy Studies.

He served for 10 years in the 1997-2010 Labour Government. He was Deputy Leader of the House of Lords and Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change from 2008-2010. He also served in the Department of Health, Department of Work and Pensions, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Justice.

He was the first chief executive of the NHS confederation, and previously director of the National Association of health authorities and trusts (NAHAT) from its formation in 1990. He ran its predecessor organisation, the National Association of health authorities (NAHA) from 1984 until 1990. He also served as a member of the council of the international hospital federation from 1986 to 1991.

He was president of the Family Planning Association from 1997 to 1998 and co-chaired the Association for Public Health from 1994 until 1998. From 1980 until 1982 he was a member of Birmingham City council and a member of Oxford City council from 1973 to 1979.

Philip was made a privy counsellor in 2009. He holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Aston, Birmingham and Birmingham City. He is an honorary fellow of the royal college of physicians. He is also an honorary fellow of the faculty of public health and of the faculty of dental surgery, royal college of surgeons. He was awarded the OBE in June 1993.