The Daily Telegraph in 2009 exposed Hogg for claiming upwards of £2,000 of taxpayers' money for the purposes of "cleaning the moat" of his country estate, Kettlethorpe Hall; thus he became one of the most prominent illustrations used by the media to portray the extent of the parliamentary expenses scandal, although it later emerged that Hogg had been encouraged by the House of Commons Fees Office (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority's precursor) to submit equivalent en bloc expenses "so as to reduce admin".

A few weeks before the murder of Belfast soliticer Pat Finucane, Hogg, then a junior British minister, stated in Parliament that certain lawyers were "unduly sympathetic to the IRA.

"[4] In the Stevens Inquiry run by the British state,[5] Hoggs comments in parliament were deemed to have potentially lead to the killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finnucane [5] "2.17 My Enquiry team also investigated an allegation that senior RUC officers briefed the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Rt Hon Douglas Hogg QC, MP, that 'some solicitors were unduly sympathetic to the cause of the IRA'.

Hogg was moved in 1990 under the leadership of Prime Minister John Major to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, becoming a member of the Privy Council in 1992.

He joined Major's Cabinet as the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1995, serving in that capacity during the BSE crisis for which he received much criticism[6] and remaining in post until the election of Tony Blair's Labour Government in 1997.

On 3 March 1997, a disgruntled farmer from Anglesey, Louis Hayward, drove six hours from his farm to Kettlethorpe Hall in order to dump three tonnes of pig manure outside Hogg's house.

[8] In 2009, during the row over MPs' expenses, The Daily Telegraph alleged that Hogg had submitted and was paid a claim form including more than £2,000 for the moat around his country estate, Kettlethorpe Hall,[9] to be cleared.

[17] In 2013, Hailsham stood for election to the House of Lords seat made vacant by the death of the 13th Earl Ferrers, losing to the 5th Viscount Ridley.

They have two children:[citation needed] As his wife was created a life peer as Baroness Hogg in 1995, the Hailshams are among the few couples both of whom hold noble titles in their own right.