He became a prominent working-class Conservative in St Pancras, and later served a single term in Parliament representing The Wrekin constituency.

[2] Moving to London, Oakley became involved in municipal politics in the Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras.

6 (which included Somers Town, together with King's Cross and St Pancras stations); he was defeated with 112 votes behind the lowest winning candidate.

[8] Oakley's Parliamentary contributions concentrated on issues affecting Friendly Societies and national insurance.

[11] Speaking in March 1927 Oakley made it clear that he regarded the introduction of betting duty in the 1926 budget as being mistaken, and declared that he was not ashamed of trying to put his party right on the subject.

[13] It was not until March 1928 that Oakley made his first full speech in the House of Commons, opposing the Racecourse Betting Bill which established the Horserace Totalisator Board.

He objected to the Bill on the grounds that it created a monopoly and placed betting under the control of the Jockey Club and the National Hunt Committee.

[15] After the debate, Oakley apologised to Lord Hamilton of Dalzell for an inaccuracy in his speech concerning admission fees to the racecourses owned by the club.

Labour Party leader Ramsay MacDonald spoke in the division attacking David Lloyd George's plan for dealing with unemployment at the end of March, shortly before the campaign opened.