 During the 1931 general election, Longhurst had spoken at a campaign meeting supporting Bedford's Conservative candidate, which he described as "a heady introduction to politics, and once you have been bitten by the bug it is almost impossible, as in golf, to throw it off".During the second part of the 1940s, Longhurst visited Middle Eastern oilfields and supported the development of air travel to the Far East, representing the airline Skyways in various projects to develop services between UK and Hong Kong, Singapore and China.Later attempts were made to add services to West Africa and the Bahamas.