 The latter year he entered Parliament for Staffordshire North-West, and served under Gladstone as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from February to July 1886.He lost his seat in the 1886 general election but returned to the House of Commons when he was elected for Stoke-upon-Trent in an 1890 by-election, a seat he held until 1895.He was Comptroller of the Household from 1892 to 1895 under Gladstone and later Lord Rosebery.