 He became active in the United Society of Boilermakers and Iron and Steel Shipbuilders, being its Clyde delegate from 1901 to 1909, while also serving on his parish council for the Independent Labour Party.The union sponsored his candidacy in Glasgow Govan at the 1906 general election; he took 29% of the vote, but was not elected.He stood for the Labour Party, again unsuccessfully, in the 1907 Liverpool Kirkdale by-election.