In 1554 he sat as Member of Parliament for Chipping Wycombe. In 1559, he was sent to Edinburgh to report on the condition of Scottish politics, and five years later he became Marshal and deputy-governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed. He was a close observer of the affairs of Mary, Queen of Scots and her house-arrest in Loch Leven Castle, was in constant communication with Lord Burghley and wrote to him on 3 April 1568 regarding her escape from that place on 25 March, about which he gave a full account.