He was the party's deputy leader from 1928 to 1929 and served as Minister for Home Affairs in the Scullin government (1929–1932).

He was the son of Catherine Ann (née Greenwood) and Simeon Blakeley, his father being a house-painter from Yorkshire, England.

When he was young, the family moved to Broken Hill, New South Wales, where he attended a convent school.

This position was responsible for the development of Canberra and in 1930 he announced the establishment of a university college and in 1931, he abolished the Federal Capital Commission.

[1] Blakeley moved to Melbourne and in 1935 he was appointed an inspector of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, which he worked for almost continuously until his retirement in 1952.