He served as Minister of State for Family Support in 2018 and Minister of State for Housing and Planning from 2018 to 2019. Malthouse was credited as the convener of an agreement between two Conservative party factions on Brexit which aimed to rewrite the Irish backstop. The House of Commons voted down the agreement in March 2019 after EU negotiators criticised it as unrealistic. On 27 May 2019, Malthouse announced that he was standing in the Conservative Party leadership election to replace Theresa May. On 4 June 2019, Malthouse announced that he was withdrawing from the contest.