He entered Parliament as a Tory in 1701, became Secretary of State following the Tory triumph of 1710, and was responsible for negotiating the Peace of Utrecht in 1713. Dismissed by George I in 1714, and impeached by the Whig Parliament of 1715, he fled to France, where he joined James Edward Stuart, but soon became disillusioned with the Pretender’s cause. In 1723 he was pardoned by George I and allowed back into England.