Education
Darling was educated at elementary school and started work at 14 in the railway sheds of Crewe. He later attended Cambridge University where he gained a Masters in economics, and entered journalism.
Darling was educated at elementary school and started work at 14 in the railway sheds of Crewe. He later attended Cambridge University where he gained a Masters in economics, and entered journalism.
When he was made redundant in 1926 he went to Leeds University, where he was chair of the Labour Club having joined the Labour Party in 1923. He became Head of research and information of the Company-operative Wholesale Society from 1930 to 1937. He then joined the Reynolds News until 1942 before becoming industrial correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation reporting team from 1942 to 1949.
He wrote several books on the co-operative movement.
Darling contested Macclesfield without success in 1935. He was elected for Hillsborough in 1950, succeeding A. V. Alexander, then the best known Company-operative Member of Parliament. Darling was a party spokesman in opposition on Board of Trade subjects and consumer protection.
Following Labour"s 1964 election victory, Darling became Minister of State at the Board of Trade, stepping down in 1968. He was President of the Institute of Trading Standards Administration (today the Trading Standards Institute) and secured legislation regulating car insurance and the descriptions of consumer goods.
He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1966.
Darling retired from the House of Commons at the February 1974 general election. In June of the same year, he was made a life peer as Baron Darling of Hillsborough, of Crewe in the County of Cheshire.
39th United Kingdom Parliament. 40th United Kingdom Parliament. 41st United Kingdom Parliament.
42nd United Kingdom Parliament.
43rd United Kingdom Parliament. 44th United Kingdom Parliament.
45th United Kingdom Parliament]
He was Labour Company-operative Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hillsborough from 1950 to 1974. Darling was a member of the Council of the National Fund for Polio Research.