Moran took part in the Battle of Cable Street in October 1936 and had to have his head treated for cuts after the event. Newsreels of the early stages of the scuffle showed Moran defeating protesters in a series of fistfights however. He then became one of the last BUF election candidates when he stood in the 1940 Silvertown by-election in West Ham. In what was a safe Labour seat, Moran campaigned on a platform calling for an immediate peace with Nazi Germany, a policy which saw him win only 115 votes.