He unsuccessfully contested Birmingham Yardley at the 1983 general election, where he finished in second place behind the sitting Conservative MP David Gilroy Bevan.

[9] In Parliament he was a special adviser to the former Minister of Sport Richard Caborn on cricket and was the chairman of the All Party Japan Group.

In October 2006, Godsiff was one of 12 Labour MPs to back Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for an inquiry into the Iraq War.

In 2005, Tribune made similar allegations about his successful bid to stave off deselection, which was only thwarted by the local votes of his former employer, the GMB Union.

During the 2010 general election campaign, Godsiff issued leaflets suggesting the Liberal Democrats were in favour of "convicted murderers, rapists and paedophiles to be given the vote", which the Lib Dems denied was their policy.

The leaflets contained images of various high-profile criminals, including child sex offender and nursery worker Vanessa George and serial killer Steven Wright.

[16] He responded to the Birmingham Mail about his participation, saying, "when you are in opposition and the government has a substantial majority, you know perfectly well that you aren't going to be able to have an effect on every vote".

"[19] Godsiff was one of seven signatories in 2014 of an open letter to Ed Miliband calling upon him to commit to restricting the ability of workers from low income EU countries to move to the UK.

[citation needed] Godsiff supported Owen Smith in the latter's failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.

[25] In May 2019, in the wake of protests in Birmingham over LGBT-inclusive education in primary schools, Godsiff sided with the protestors: "I have concerns about the age appropriateness of children of four and five being introduced to these ideas", he said, later admitting that he had not read the books.

[27] However, the process was paused due to the election being called that month, resulting in the decision being made by the NEC to not endorse Godsiff and select a new candidate with a local panel.