At the 1992 general election, he defeated Livsey (who was now a Liberal Democrat) by 130 votes in one of only three Conservative gains in the 1992 election and took his seat in the House of Commons. After two years in Parliament, he was appointed as a junior minister in the John Major government, serving as Parliamentary Secretary to the Lord Chancellor; Corporate Affairs Minister at the Department of Trade and Industry; and then serving under William Hague as Under Secretary of State for Wales from 1996 to 1997. However, at the 1997 general election the Liberal Democrats retook his seat. He consistently voted against same-sex marriage.