Weatherley's first parliamentary candidacy was at the
2001 general election in the
safe Labour seat of
Barking in east London; he increased the Conservative vote share, but came a distant second. Two years later, in 2003, he unsuccessfully stood for the council seat of Hollingbury and Stanmer in
Brighton and Hove. At the
next Westminster election, held in 2005, he was the Conservative parliamentary candidate for
Brighton, Pavilion, the seat adjacent to Hove. In the event, the seat was held by the incumbent Labour MP,
David Lepper, with a majority of over 5,000, and the Conservative vote share declined. In 2006, Weatherley secured a seat on his local
Crawley Borough Council, winning the Conservative-held ward of Furnace Green, and defeating the Labour candidate,
2005 Big Brother contestant Eugene Sully. He was finally successful in entering parliament at the
2010 general election, in which he defeated the sitting Labour MP
Celia Barlow with a majority of 1,868.
In Parliament Following his election, Weatherley campaigned to have squatting in residential properties criminalised, with the backing of Justice Minister
Kenneth Clarke. The campaign was successful and led to a provision in the
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, creating a new offence. In November 2012, he was attacked with vegetables by a group of pro-
squatting protesters ahead of a debate on the legislation at the
University of Sussex. Weatherley and his staff were eventually led to safety by police. Weatherley rejected claims in March 2013 that, as originator of the legislation, he was responsible for a homeless man freezing to death while sleeping outside an empty bungalow. Weatherley had an interest in protecting
intellectual property rights, and was a member of the All Party Parliamentary Intellectual Property Group, one of the main objectives of which is to highlight intellectual property rights. The campaign gained support from musicians such as
Alice Cooper. In April 2014, Weatherley called on then-prime minister
David Cameron to commit to the permanent funding of the
Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit to extend its existence beyond 2015. Weatherley campaigned against the repeal of the
Hunting Act 2004, stating that "hunting foxes with hounds is a cruel and inhumane practice," and pledging to vote against any measure which would lead to the ban being overturned. He also campaigned against the implementation of the proposed ban on the retail display of tobacco products, arguing that it would damage trade for small businesses. Weatherley wrote to David Cameron in favour of
same-sex couples gaining equal marriage rights, also advocating that religious organisations should be forced to register such ceremonies, which caused controversy. Weatherley was the chair of the
All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Business and Retail Crime, along with various other APPGs. He was also a vice-president of the Debating Group, and a supporter of the Free Enterprise Group. After suffering from
cancer of the oesophagus, Weatherley stood down at the
2015 general election. ==Personal life==