During World War I he served in the Royal Navy Mercantile Marine Reserve aboard the SS Tainui.

[2][3] He was a long-time trade unionist and was a prominent member of the Federated Cooks and Stewards Union, of which he became Auckland secretary from 1930 to 1937.

Upon first entering Parliament Fox was subject to caucus suspicion as being a "stooge" of Walsh, despite the two having frequently clashed with each other.

[1] Despite his cabinet ranking, Fox was one of a group of three Labour MPs (the others being Mick Moohan and Frank Kitts) who were deeply critical of the decisions made in the "Black Budget".

However he was unable to fully deliver on Labour's housing pledges due to a perpetual lack of government owned vacant land.

Fox, along with Moohan and Warren Freer, was one of the few senior Labour MPs who backed Norman Kirk's successful leadership challenge to Nordmeyer in 1965.

He declined the invitation however, citing his desire to retire from politics and already having arrangements to move out of the Wellington area.