 He returned to the House of Commons in 1939, at a by-election in the Colne Valley constituency, and held the seat until he died in office in 1962, aged 75.In Clement Attlee's post-war government, he served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 1945 to 1950, and was made a Privy Councillor in 1947.After leaving government in 1950, he served as chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP)'s liaison committee, a position equivalent to the current role of Chairman of the PLP.