[1] Wharton was appointed Minister for the Northern Powerhouse after his re-election in 2015 and moved to a ministerial position in the Department for International Development by Theresa May in 2016.

[8] However, he rarely left London — a fact that was only released after a judge ruled the department had to comply with a freedom of information request — a process which took 26 months.

[11] After the Bill did not pass the House of Lords, Wharton blamed Labour and Liberal Democrat obstructionism.

After being elected MP for Stockton South, Wharton made stated his opposition to a development occurring in Preston Park.

The plans, backed by Wharton's predecessor Dari Taylor, included relocating Egglescliffe School to the park.

[13] In 2014, Wharton denied allegations by a UKIP councillor that a letter he wrote to constituents on the subject of the conflict in Gaza had "been sent to those residents who may reasonably be expected to be Muslims, based only on their names".

Wharton denied allegations that he had become too close to the Sri Lankan government, saying that he had made friends on both sides of the ethnic divide and that the lack of a Sri Lankan community in his constituency helped him be "objective"[15] In 2010, Wharton assisted Conservative Town Councillor Jason Hadlow's company Trocabart to secure £30,000 in aid from the former Regional Development Agency, One North East; the business failed and had been closed.

Wharton acknowledged that he had driven minister Brandon Lewis to the site and been photographed there, but said that he had not been there for the duration of the visit.

[23] Kate Green, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education, criticised the appointed for alleged cronyism.

[26] Wharton resigned as chair on 9 July 2024, six months before his term was due to end and less than a week after the 2024 general election.

Wharton's video message was delivered on the same day as Zsolt Bayer, a Hungarian television talk show host who has been accused of racism, took to the stage.