In 1981, he was elected to Castlereagh Borough Council for the Democratic Unionist Party, a post he held until 1989.
In 1996, he joined the UK Unionist Party (UKUP), and was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum under the top-up system in 1996.
When the Forum was replaced by the Northern Ireland Assembly, Wilson won a seat in Strangford outright, initially placing third out of twenty-two candidates.
Wilson became the party leader, and in the 2001 UK general election, he contested the Strangford parliamentary seat, but came bottom of the poll, with only 1.9% of the vote.
This poor showing was reflected in the 2003 Assembly election, when Wilson initially placed only tenth out of thirteen candidates, and all the NIUP members lost their seats.