He also joined the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), where he held membership of the Canning Town branch, led by Will Thorne.
He stood for West Ham Borough Council as an SDF candidate in 1891, narrowly missing out on election with 871 votes.
He proved successful, gradually increasing the union's membership and, after a few years, beginning to organise outside London, and was renamed as the "Municipal Employees' Association" (MEA).
Tevenan, in particular, was a popular figure, and was able to persuade the union's executive and a small majority of members to vote to suspend Taylor.
He began making public specific criticism of other full-time union officials, and threatened that a split along the lines of the 1907 event might result.