Outside business, Gustav Wolff served as a Belfast harbour commissioner from 1887 to 1893. Wolff, like Edward Harland, served as a Member of Parliament as a member of the Conservative and Unionist Party. Edward Harland and Gustav Wolff were known in the House of Commons as "Majestic" and "Teutonic", the names of two ships that the company built. Wolff was the Member of Parliament for Belfast East from March 1892 to December 1910. He replaced Edward de Cobain who had been expelled from the House of Commons and was later jailed for homosexual offences. Wolff only faced election once; in the 1892 by-election Sir William Charley, Q.C., stood against Wolff as an Independent Conservative. Wolff defeated Charley by a margin of over 2100 votes. Wolff was then returned unopposed until his retirement from parliament in 1910. Afterwards, Wolff was made a freeman of Belfast by the Belfast Corporation. In Parliament, Wolff strongly opposed the Irish Home Rule bills.