After the war, Holland-Martin was appointed a Director of Martins Bank. He also became involved in politics and was made Joint Honorary Treasurer of the Conservative Party from 1947; two years later he married Lady Anne Cavendish MBE, daughter of the Duke of Devonshire.
Parliament
At the 1951 general election, Holland-Martin was elected as Conservative Member of Parliament for Ludlow. His experience in financial matters was often in evidence in House of Commons debates, although he was generally low profile. He remained involved in business throughout his time in Parliament.
An Act to validate the election to the House of Commons of Christopher John Holland-Martin, Esquire, notwithstanding his holding the office of local Director of the Bank of New Zealand, and to indemnify him from any penal consequences which he may have incurred by sitting and voting as a member of that House.
In 1955 he was caught up in a minor constitutional crisis over his local directorship of the Bank of New Zealand. With the bank's shares vested in the Crown, the directorship was technically an 'office of profit under the Crown' and as such a disqualification from the House of Commons. Holland-Martin immediately resigned his office while the law was changed and an act of Parliament, the Validation of Elections (No. 2) Act 1955 (4 & 5 Eliz. 2. c. 12) was passed to indemnify him from the consequences of having acted as a Member of Parliament while disqualified.
Death
Later in the 1950s Holland-Martin became involved in many African-related mining and exploration companies. While on a visit to Southern Rhodesia in January 1960, he suffered a heart attack and was confined to bed at Government House; he was returned to Britain but died at his home in Colwall, Herefordshire in April, aged 49.
References
M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981)