 He was elected to the House of Commons for Newington West in 1892, a seat he held until 1916, and served under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from 1905 to 1910 and as Assistant Postmaster-General from 1910 to 1916.The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Rathcreedan, of Bellehatch Park in the County of Oxford.He later held office under David Lloyd George as Assistant Parliamentary Secretary (unpaid) to the Ministry of Munitions and Supply from 1919 to 1921.