 After fighting Stockton-on-Tees in the 1955 general election, Longbottom was selected for York and won the seat in the 1959 general election.Iain Macleod, the Leader of the House of Commons, picked him as his Parliamentary Private Secretary in 1961; he served until Macleod went out of office in 1963.After losing his seat at the 1966 general election, Longbottom went into the shipbuilding business.