Cecil Bisshopp Harmsworth represented the Liberal Party as MP for South Beds, including Luton, from 1911 until he retired from the House of Commons in 1922.

At the 1910 General Election, he lost his Droitwich seat in Worcestershire to which he was elected in 1906. But he was quickly returned to the Commons at a by-election in Luton and South Beds on July 20th, 1911, that was caused by the elevation to the peerage of Thomas Gair Ashton, also a Liberal, who had held the seat since 1895.

During his 11 years as the local MP, Mr Harmsworth held Government posts as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (February 1915-May 1915) and Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (January 1919-October 1922). He was re-elected in 1918, retired from the Commons in 1922 and was elevated to the peerage in 1939.

At the outbreak of the Great War his weekly Parliamentary Letter, largely devoted to national topics, was an already well established feature in The Luton News. He continued to use it to give reasoned analysis of events as they unfolded and to deal with crucial issues of the time.