In 1665 he was elected as a
Member of Parliament for
Lincolnshire on the anti-
Presbyterian interest; he would hold the seat until his death in 1682. The same year he was appointed a
deputy lieutenant for
Lincolnshire. He became a very active member of the
Cavalier Parliament, and was appointed to 391 committees and made over one hundred speeches. He established a London
townhouse which became notorious for heavy drinking, and in 1667
Sir Henry Belasyse was killed in a
duel after drinking with
Thomas Porter and Carr. Carr was an opponent of the
Earl of Clarendon and took an active part in his downfall in 1667. He supported the motion for Clarendon's
impeachment, both in the debate and vote. Carr led an inquiry into the miscarriages of the
Second Anglo-Dutch War. In late 1669 he attended on the
Duke of Albemarle to express the thanks of the Commons for the duke's service. From 1670 to 1671 he sat on a committee to consider the union of England and Scotland.
Member of the Court faction , later the
Earl of Arlington, who was Carr's brother-in-law and leader of the Court faction in parliament In November 1670 he was one of five prominent MPs who
crossed the floor to support the
Court faction. In 1671 he was appointed a
gentleman of the privy chamber, likely in reward for his sustained support for the king's policies. On 22 February 1672 Carr was appointed
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and made a member of the
Privy Council of England after his brother-in-law obtained a life patent for the role for Carr. Almost immediately, Carr was forced to support the
Declaration of Indulgence to which he had previously been opposed. He later told the Commons that he "Likes neither the
Papists nor the
dissenters. But the Papists have fought for the King, the others have not; therefore would have more kindness for them." In 1674, the French embassy reported that Arlington hoped to use Carr's prestige in the Commons to win support for the continuance of the Anglo-French alliance against the
Dutch Republic. Despite this, there is evidence that Carr's sympathies were with the Dutch at this time. Carr spent much of the 1674 session defending his brother-in-law, Arlington, from impeachment by the Commons. He was also appointed to the committees to inspect the Scottish Army Act and to inquire into the condition of Ireland. In 1676, he incurred heavy betting losses at
Newmarket Racecourse which forced him to mortgage most of his estate for £20,000. Carr's support for the Court faction led to him being labelled "doubly vile" by
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury. Carr spoke repeatedly in support of increased supply; he helped to prepare the addresses asking the King to withstand the danger from France and promising a credit of £200,000 for developing a naval programme. He also spoke in the Commons against encroaching on the
royal prerogative by demanding an alliance with the Dutch Republic.
Later career On 12 June 1678 he was removed from the Privy Council after becoming caught in a scandal regarding the
Earl of Lindsey's suspected use of militia to intimidate voters in
Stamford. Nonetheless, following the
Popish Plot, Carr defended giving commissions to Roman Catholic officers and supported allowing
James, Duke of York to retain his seat in the
House of Lords. Carr continued to represent Lincolnshire in the
Habeas Corpus Parliament and
Exclusion Bill Parliament, during which he was a moderately active member. On 7 May 1679 he helped to prepare reasons for invalidating the pardon given to
Lord Danby. He did not speak in the exclusion debate, but two months later he snubbed the Duke of York, who passed through
Grantham on his way to Scotland. In 1680, Carr was restored to the Privy Council, but refused to convey the king's message to the Commons that the
Exclusion Bill would be vetoed. He made no significant impact during the
Oxford Parliament and died on 14 November 1682. ==References==