He unsuccessfully contested Blackburn in 1900 and Wakefield in 1902, and in 1903 he became chairman of the Independent Labour party.
He held this position until 1906, and in that year was returned as Socialist member for Blackburn.
Lord Morley of Blackburn's Life of Gladstone was published in 1903.
Blackburn; Illustrated Album of Biography of the Famous Valley of the Red River of the North and the Park Regions, including the most Fertile and Widely Known Portions of Minnesota and North Dakota (Chicago, 1889) New Light on the Earlier History of the Greater North-west.
The hills in the vicinity rise to some 900 ft., and among English manufacturing towns Blackburn ranks high in beauty of situation.
