 Hastings was Member of Parliament (MP) for Reading, in Berkshire, from 1923 to 1924, and from 1929 to 1931.He returned to the House of Commons at the 1945 general election as MP for Barking, holding the seat until his retirement at the 1959 general election.Thora Silverthorne worked for Hastings as a nanny and went on to be secretary of the Socialist Medical Association.