 He became assistant secretary of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and wrote for the socialist paper, "Justice".In 1886 with John Burns, Henry Hyndman and Jack Williams he was indicted for seditious conspiracy in connexion with the Trafalgar Square riots, after conducting his own defence he was acquitted.Champion bought a half-share in a printing plant and published a paper called "To-Day", and in 1885-86 George Bernard Shaw's early novel Cashel Byron's Profession appeared in it as a serial.