[1] After being made redundant in 1926 he matriculated at Liverpool University,[2][3] before going on to attend Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he became chair of the Cambridge University Labour Club; he graduated with a degree in economics in 1930, gaining a lower-class second in Part I of the tripos and a third in Part II.
[4][5] After Cambridge Darling chose to enter journalism, before becoming the head of research and information at the Co-operative Wholesale Society from 1930 to 1937.
Darling was a party spokesman in opposition on Board of Trade subjects and consumer protection.
Following Labour's 1964 election victory, Darling became Minister of State at the Board of Trade, stepping down in 1968.
On 3 July of the same year, he was created a life peer as Baron Darling of Hillsborough, of Crewe in Cheshire.