He joined the Independent Labour Party in 1906, and was elected to Edinburgh Town Council in 1913.

Early in his parliamentary career he found himself at odds with many Labour MPs and contemplated joining the Liberals.

He held office as Financial Secretary to the Treasury in 1924 (when he was sworn as a Privy Councillor) and as President of the Board of Trade from 1929 to 1931.

He also served on the Royal Commissions on income-tax in 1919, and Oxford and Cambridge in 1920–1921, and was a Member of the Speaker's Conference on Devolution in 1919–1920.

This article about a Labour Party member of Parliament representing a Scottish constituency is a stub.