During the Hunger Strikes of 1981, Adams played an important policy-making role. The hunger strikes saw Sinn Féin become more important as a political force. In 1983 he was elected president of Sinn Féin and became the first Sinn Féin MP elected to the British House of Commons since the 1950s. Following his election (as MP for Belfast West) the British government lifted a ban on him traveling to Britain. In line with Sinn Féin policy, he refused to sit in the House of Commons.