He contested the newly drawn Bexleyheath and Crayford seat in 1997, but lost to Labour's Nigel Beard by 3,415 votes. He narrowly lost to Beard again at the 2001 general election but reduced his majority to 1,475. He was re-elected to Parliament for Bexleyheath and Crayford at the 2005 general election, ousting Beard by 4,551 votes. By winning back a seat which, albeit after boundary changes, he had lost in 1997, he became the only MP to have lost his seat in the Labour landslide of 1997, fought the same seat unsuccessfully in 2001 and then to have fought and won it back at the second attempt.