He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1937 following the events of the Spanish Civil War and made use of its networks and organising skills to rise through the union, becoming a district official in 1947.
A plan for detrimental leaks to the media was placed in the Foreign Office propaganda Information Research Department, and its head prepared a briefing paper.
However information about how this was effected has not been released under the thirty-year rule under a section of the Public Records Act permitting national security exemptions.
They were the prime movers within the union movement of the Social Contract which introduced strict wage controls and limits on strike action.
He was elevated to the House of Lords as a Life Peer on 19 February 1979, taking the title Baron Scanlon, of Davyhulme in the County of Greater Manchester.