Tolhurst was elected to the Rochester West ward on
Medway Council in 2011 and served as a councillor until 2018 when she resigned after being appointed as an assistant whip. Tolhurst was selected to contest the
2014 Rochester and Strood by-election which was triggered by the defection of
Mark Reckless to
UKIP. Tolhurst lost the by-election, held on 20 November 2014, but regained the seat for the Conservatives at the
2015 general election six months later, securing a majority of over 7,000. She was re-elected in 2017. Tolhurst served on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, the European Scrutiny Committee and the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee. She was made an assistant government whip during the
reshuffle on 9 January 2018. Tolhurst was appointed the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets at the
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 19 July 2018. In February 2020, Tolhurst was appointed as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport at the
Department for Transport, succeeding
Nus Ghani who had been relieved of ministerial responsibilities. Tolhurst campaigned to remain in the European Union prior to the
2016 referendum. Tolhurst was appointed as the
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government and Homelessness at the
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in September 2020, replacing
Luke Hall, who had in turn replaced
Simon Clarke in a different position in the same department. She resigned from this position in January 2021 after receiving "devastating family news". On 1 July 2022, Tolhurst was appointed
Government Deputy Chief Whip and Treasurer of the Household by Prime Minister
Boris Johnson, following the resignation of
Chris Pincher. On 7 September 2022, she was appointed
Minister of State in the
Department for Education. On 8 March 2023, she was appointed as a member of the
Privy Council. In the
2024 general election, she was unseated by
Lauren Edwards from the Labour Party. ==Post-parliamentary career==