Trevor Phillips, OBE , is a former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and a former television executive and presenter. He became head of the Commission for Racial Equality in 2003, and on its abolition in 2006 was appointed full-time chair of its successor, the EHRC , which had a broader remit of combating discrimination and promoting equality across other grounds . The EHRC also had the role of promoting and defending human rights, and secured recognition as the national human rights institution for Great Britain . Phillips' tenure as EHRC chair has at times been controversial.