Even before the introduction of Conscription, Tom Attlee was active in the CO movement. A leading member of the East London No-Conscription Fellowship, the Independent Labour Party and the Christian Social Union, he was one of many COs who objected to war on both Political and Religious grounds. His reasons for Objecting did not find favour with the Poplar Tribunal and on the 21st of June 1916 his application for exemption was rejected. For Tom, as an absolutist CO this was the beginning of a long struggle with the military and civilian authorities that only ended after his third prison sentence when he was finally released in April 1919. His brother, Clement, was later leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister, but chose to join the army during the war.