 Buxton was the Conservative candidate in the safe Labour constituency of Leyton at the 1955 general election, losing by 8,244 votes to the long-serving Labour MP Reginald Sorensen.He was unsuccessful again at the 1959 election and at the October 1964 general election, when Sorensen's majority was 3,919 votes.Buxton had cast around for another seat but was refused the nomination for the constituency where he lived, and failed to secure the Conservative nomination for South-West Norfolk.