policies. While on his way to a campaign meeting at Oakengates during the campaign, Oakley saw his Labour opponent's car which had gone off the road and ended in a ditch; he gave his opponent a lift to his meeting before going along to his own meeting at which he arrived late and was booed by the crowd. Oakley explained why he was late and then invited the crowd to "Now get on with your booing". Oakley was successful at the polls, winning a majority of 2,878 over the sitting Labour MP. Parliament Oakley's Parliamentary contributions concentrated on issues affecting Friendly Societies and national insurance. In June 1925 he pressed the Minister for Health to intervene in the case of a man in Ferndale, Glamorgan who was incapacitated from work but was awarded much less in outdoor relief than the national scale indicated; the Minister refused to intervene in the local decision. He was unanimously elected President of the Hearts of Oak society in May 1926, and served as Parliamentary Agent to the society during his time as an MP. Betting He took up the cause of abolition of betting duty and in December 1926 presided at meetings in Liverpool and Manchester organised by the Betting Duty Reform Association at which many representatives connected with horse racing spoke. Speaking in March 1927 Oakley made it clear that he regarded the introduction of betting duty in the 1926 budget as being mistaken, and declared that he was not ashamed of trying to put his party right on the subject. In 1927 Oakley declared himself a supporter of the proposed reform of the House of Lords proposed by Viscount Cave. It was not until March 1928 that Oakley made his first full speech in the House of Commons, opposing the Racecourse Betting Bill which established the Horserace Totalisator Board. He objected to the Bill on the grounds that it created a monopoly and placed betting under the control of the Jockey Club and the National Hunt Committee. Oakley was in a minority of Conservatives in opposing the Bill on a free vote, and was unsuccessful in his opposition to the Bill. After the debate, Oakley apologised to Lord Hamilton of Dalzell for an inaccuracy in his speech concerning admission fees to the racecourses owned by the club. Defeat With a narrow majority, The Wrekin was targeted by the Labour Party at the