Politics
In 1901 he was elected a member of the first Senate of Australia from Western Australia as a Free Trader sitting until the experation the three-year term to which he had been elected.
Harney stood as the Liberal Party candidate at the 1922 general election in South Shields. The sitting MP was Havelock Wilson who had had a chequered political career having been elected as an Independent Labour candidate and then aligning himself with the Lib-Labs before becoming a founder member of the National Democratic Party and later getting back into Parliament in 1918 as a Coalition Liberal – that is a supporter of the Liberal-Conservative coalition government led by David Lloyd George. In a three cornered contest with Havelock Wilson standing as a National Liberal and a Labour candidate, Harney scraped home by just 25 votes over Labour with Havelock Wilson bottom of the poll.
In the general election of 1923 and again in 1924, Harney held his seat, this time in straight fights with Labour but with majorities of 7,195 and 6,319. Harney died just before the 1929 general election so no by-election was needed but this time Labour candidate James Chuter Ede gained the seat.
Read more about this topic: Edward Harney
Famous quotes containing the word politics:
“His talk was like a spring, which runs
With rapid change from rocks to roses:
It slipped from politics to puns,
It passed from Mahomet to Moses;
Beginning with the laws which keep
The planets in their radiant courses,
And ending with some precept deep
For dressing eels, or shoeing horses.”
—Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802–1839)
“The average Kentuckian may appear a bit confused in his knowledge of history, but he is firmly certain about current politics. Kentucky cannot claim first place in political importance, but it tops the list in its keen enjoyment of politics for its own sake. It takes the average Kentuckian only a matter of moments to dispose of the weather and personal helath, but he never tires of a political discussion.”
—For the State of Kentucky, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“A baby changes your dinner party conversation from politics to poops.”
—Maurice Johnstone (20th century)