Career
Hirst first stood for election to Parliament at the "coupon election" in 1918, when he was an unsuccessful Company-Operative Party in Bradford South. He stood again in 1992 and 1923, as a Labour Company-operative candidate with the endorsement of the Labour Party, losing in both elections by a narrow margin of less than 3% of the votes. Hirst was re-elected in 1929 with an increased majority.
However, at the 1931 general election, the Labour Party had split over Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald"s decision to form a National government with the support of both the Conservative Liberal parties, and Hirst was opposed in Bradford only by a Liberal candidate, the Conservatives having stepped aside.
He lost his seat by a huge margin of 32.6% of the votes. Hirts"s seventh and final candidacy was at the 1935 general election, when he was defeated again, although he halved the Liberal majority to 16.8%.