As the post had not yet been established in law, he formally served as Minister without Portfolio for the first three months.

His appointment was aimed to appeal to liberal minded opinion but was criticised as being inappropriate - A.J.P.

Taylor described Burgin as being "another horse from Caligula's well-stocked stables"[3] (a follow-up to contemporary remarks about the earlier appointment of Sir Thomas Inskip as Minister for Coordination of Defence).

When Chamberlain was replaced by Winston Churchill, Burgin was not included in the new wartime ministry.

Burgin was referred to in the book Guilty Men (1940) by Michael Foot, Frank Owen and Peter Howard (writing under the pseudonym 'Cato'), an attack on public figures for their failure to re-arm and their appeasement of Nazi Germany.