At the 1964 general election he was Labour candidate for the Bebington constituency on the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire, losing to future Chancellor of the Exchequer and Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe.
He also wanted all hereditary peers removed from the House of Lords, and called for a negotiated settlement to the Vietnam War.
Brooks was also successful in getting the 1967 NHS Family Planning Act passed as a private members Bill.
He identified a social problem whereby low income groups risked financial difficulties from having more children than they could afford.
From 1982 to 1988 he was Dean of Commerce of the merged Riverina-Murray Institute of Higher Education, part of the Charles Sturt University.