Following the death of Liberal
Member of Parliament (MP), Sir
Francis Acland in 1939, Horabin was selected by
North Cornwall Liberals to defend the marginal seat at the
resulting by-election. Along with his party leader, Sir
Archibald Sinclair, he was a vocal opponent of
Chamberlain's
Nazi appeasement policy. This issue was central to the debate in the by-election, which he won with an increased majority of 1,464 in a straight fight with the Conservatives. He was also a strong advocate, along with Sir
Stafford Cripps, of a
Popular Front of left-of-centre parties coming together to defeat the
Conservative led
National government. He continued to hold the seat until 1950. He later sued BOAC for damages, and after hearings in the
High Court, the case was settled in November 1952 when he accepted £3,017 in damages. In November 1947 Horabin took the Labour whip. The North Cornwall Liberals wanted him to resign the seat and seek re-election, but he refused, saying that the principles for which he stood had been set out clearly in his address to voters at the general election. At the
1950 election, Labour invited him to defend North Cornwall as a Labour candidate, but he refused on the grounds that he would then be campaigning against people who had previously campaigned for him. ==Personal life==