He unsuccessfully contested the Fulham seat at a by-election in 1986 but won it at the general election a year later, defeating the Labour by-election victor Nick Raynsford (who returned to Parliament five years later as the Member for Greenwich). Carrington was Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Patten when he was a Home Office Minister between November 1990 and April 1992, and then when Patten was promoted to Secretary of State for Education. Carrington returned to the backbenches before joining John Major's government against as an Assistant Whip between 1996 and the 1997 general election, simultaneously serving as Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee.