 In 1918 he had reached the rank of lieutenant commander and was highly decorated; he received the DSO in 1916, with bar in 1917 and a MID, along with Russian and Romanian decorations; such as the St George of the 4th class.He was Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackburn from 1931 to 1945.Smiles was re-elected in 1935 but stood for Down in Northern Ireland at the 1945 Westminster election, as a Unionist.