Elected To Parliament
Storey joined the Labor Electoral League, the precursor of the Labor Party, on its foundation in 1891 and was elected to represent Balmain North in the Legislative Assembly in 1901. Although he was an effective parliamentarian, he was beaten for election to the recreated seat of Balmain by Walter Anderson in 1904, but defeated Anderson in 1907. The McGowen Labor Government came to power in 1910, but Storey did not nominate for election to Cabinet.
In 1916 the non-parliamentary party attempted to discipline Premier William Holman, and elected a Cabinet headed by Storey 27 April. The party reversed this decision on 4 May and Storey handed back power to Holman, although legally there had never been any transfer of power. However, the split in the party widened further with the dispute over conscription and, in November, Holman, along with Prime Minister Billy Hughes, were expelled from the party. The remnants of the Labor Party were now in opposition to Holman's Nationalist Government, but Storey refused to become party leader and Ernest Durack became leader. Durack resigned in February 1917 and Storey had no choice but accept the leadership. His good public speaking and amiability helped to reduce the scale of Labor's defeat in the 1917 election. He worked hard in 1918 and 1919 to prevent socialists taking over the party and his policy speech for the 1920 election promised child endowment and suburban rail electrification rather than socialism.
Read more about this topic: John Storey (politician)
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