He left at the age of fifteen, and turned down a place at agricultural college for a job delivering telegrams for the Post Office.
Part of his job involved delivering dispatch boxes to George Thomas, who encouraged Hodgson to join the Labour Party.
He considered turning professional, but he broke his leg in a motorbike accident at the age of nineteen and thereafter spent his spare time playing rugby and horse riding.
[2] The UCW became part of the Communication Workers' Union, and in 1997, Hodgson was elected to replace Johnson as its joint general secretary.
He was highly critical of Johnson, stating that when he took over, "we had the worst record in industrial relations of any union and a bloody mess to sort out".