 He was elected Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Chichester in 1572, 1584, 1586, 1589, 1593 and 1597.In Parliament he sat on a number of committees.He moved to Wales after his appointment as Chief Justice of Chester and effectively ran the country for some time between the death in 1601 of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, the Lord President of Wales and the arrival of the new Lord President, Lord Zouch, in 1602.