 He was a branch secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers.Upon being elected as Member of Parliament, represented Ince from 1964 to 1983, and Makerfield from 1983 until he was deselected by his constituency party in 1987, largely because of his failure to support the miners' strike of 1984–5.In 1954 he married Marie T. Murphy (died 1998), with whom he had three sons and two daughters.