He was elected, as a Whig Member of Parliament for Chippenham in 1701 despite a petition alleging, among other things, he was still a minor. (That year he was aged about 20.) He was a political ally of his father's and managed the attempt to impeach Lord Somers in the House of Commons in the same year.[2] At the General Election of 1705 he vacated his seat to unsuccessfully contest Nottinghamshire but returned to Chippenham later that year in a by-election caused by the death of a newly returned Whig member, and sat until 1708.[1]