Paroled, he returned to Britain and pursued a political career as a Whig. A supporter of the Hanoverian Succession he was rewarded with office by George I in 1714. As Southern Secretary he oversaw the negotiation of an Anglo-French Alliance. Emerging as the dominant figure in government after 1717, following the Whig Split, he led Britain to success in a new Spanish War and suppressed a Jacobite Rising in 1719. However the government was overtaken by the collapse of the South Sea Bubble and he died in office. He is occasionally mentioned as an alternative candidate to Robert Walpole as Britain's first Prime Minister.