He left school at the age of fourteen and found work in a factory, but was sacked due to his focus on football.
While recovering, he became interested in politics, joining the Labour Party, and also the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers.
[1][2][3] In the run-up to World War II, Merrion was involved in constructing air raid shelters across London, and he was invited to speak about this on the radio.
The BBC was trialing putting "ordinary people" on the radio, and Merrion was perhaps the most popular, thereafter featuring regularly on programmes including The Brains Trust, and even presenting a series of The Week in Westminster.
He then stood in Southend East in 1951, and Exeter at the 1955 UK general election, on both occasions increasing the party's vote share, but taking second place.