In 1885, he persuaded the Association to sponsor two candidates: Frederick Maddison, and Threlfall himself,[3] who stood for the Liberal Party at the 1886 general election in Sheffield Hallam.
[4] At the following congress, he convinced the TUC to form a Labour Electoral Committee, to sponsor candidates for election to Parliament.
The Committee was renamed as the "Labour Electoral Association",[6] and although it championed representation through the Liberal Party, it did sponsor Keir Hardie's independent candidacy at the 1888 Mid Lanarkshire by-election.
[8] Given its generally disappointing results, the body declined in importance, although Threlfall remained its Secretary until it was wound up, in 1895.
[12] In 1900, he wrote an article for The Nineteenth Century, in which he proclaimed that the Senussi would lead a holy war against Britain and France.