He was educated at local schools before entering a state training college in Melbourne and gaining employment with a newspaper in Richmond.

Prior to the October 1911 state election, he was selected by Labor to contest the seat of Mount Leonora; he obtained 1,019 of the 1,172 valid votes cast and entered the Legislative Assembly.

Former premier John Scaddan and several others formed the National Labor Party with a base in the Goldfields region.

On 18 November 1920, Foley resigned from the Legislative Assembly to contest the Kalgoorlie federal by-election, which had been called due to the expulsion of Labor member Hugh Mahon from the House of Representatives.

George Foley died on 27 October 1945 in the Perth suburb of Mount Hawthorn and was buried in the Congregationalist section of Karrakatta Cemetery.