 He was elected to the House of Commons at an unopposed by-election in 1941, as Member of Parliament for Carmarthen, following the resignation of Labour MP Major Daniel Hopkin MC.However, at the 1945 general election, he lost the seat by 1,279 votes to the Liberal candidate Rhys Hopkin Morris.Hughes returned to Parliament at the 1950 general election, when he was elected as (MP) for the safe Labour seat of Islington North, in North London.