Layard was an MP for fourteen years, but his parliamentary career is one of the least-known aspects of his life. This article shows that his main concern as an MP was to demonstrate expertise on foreign and particularly eastern policy. He did this partly to develop his fame, partly to boost his chance of office, and partly to emphasise that parliament should be full of men of knowledge and talent like himself, rather than idle gentlemen. He became a Foreign Office minister twice, and enjoyed it. However his refusal to consider office in other departments, or to speak on a wider range of topics, destroyed his career prospects. Therefore, though superficially a radical hostile to class privilege, he had little to contribute to domestic politics. His main interests remained diplomacy and global strategy - as his later career demonstrated.