[2] Paling left Ripley Elementary School at the age of 13, and entered casual employment with local plumbing and building companies.

When the family moved to Huthwaite in Nottinghamshire he started work in New Hucknall Colliery, also attending night classes organised by the Workers Educational Association in politics, economics and trade union history.

Returning to the Nottinghamshire Coalfield, he became an official in the local miners' federation and a member of the Independent Labour Party.

[2] He was defeated at the 1931 general election, when the Labour Party lost many seats to candidates of the National Government.

[2] He joined the wartime coalition government as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, in 1940 and was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions from 1941 to 1945.