Military service Vernon served in the
RNVR during the
First World War, before becoming a squadron major in the
RNAS and was a major in the
RAF in its early days. During 1918 he worked in the flying boat section at
Felixstowe airbase and after the war became the chief draughtsman for the
British Aeroplane Company. From 1925 to 1937 he worked at the
Royal Aircraft Establishment, from which he was dismissed for failing to take proper care of classified information. He had also been earlier implicated in encouraging sedition at the Aldershot army camp. During the
Second World War he was involved in the foundation of the Osterley Park Home Guard School and was an instructor at the Dorking Home Guard Training School until December 1942. He later became a
WEA tutor in Bournemouth and Portsmouth.
Member of Parliament He was elected MP for
Dulwich in the 1945 general election, but lost the seat in the 1951 election. He later served as a member of the
London County Council, representing
Dulwich and as a councillor in
Camberwell. In January 1948, Vernon gave a speech on China in the
House of Commons denouncing
Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government and endorsing
Mao Zedong's Communists. Vernon claimed that "the Chinese government are running one of the most ruthless and cruel police states in existence", and called for Britain to adopt "a policy of friendship and trade with the liberated areas" under Communist control. Vernon was a member of the
Fabian Society.
Spying for the Soviet Union In February 1952, Vernon was interrogated by MI5 officer
Jim Skardon and admitted having been part of a pre-war
Soviet espionage ring. == Personal life ==