At the 1705 English general election Bathurst was caught up in a double return for Cirencester but was declared elected Member of Parliament for the borough in the Country Tory interest. At the 1708 British general election he was returned again for Cirencester but the election was declared void on 10 December 1709. He was returned again in the contested re-election on 23 December 1709. At the 1710 British general election he was returned in a contest without problems. He was highly active under the Tory administration. On 1 January 1712, with eleven others - the twelve apostles, so called - he was raised to the peerage by Queen Anne as Baron Bathurst, of Battlesden in the County of Bedford. He vacated his seat in the House of Commons to sit in the House of Lords. In 1719 he was one of the original backers of the Royal Academy of Music, establishing a London opera company which commissioned numerous works from Handel, Bononcini and others.