[1] He was selected by the Conservatives as their parliamentary candidate when the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for the Isle of Wight, Sir Peter Macdonald, stood down at the 1959 general election.
At the February 1974 election he lost the seat by 7,766 votes to the Liberal candidate Stephen Ross despite having won a huge 17,326 majority over Labour in 1970.
It was instead sold to a syndicate headed by Major Charles Selwyn, proprietor of the Royal Spithead Hotel on the harbour, and then chairman of the county council.
[4] After this event prominent graffiti sites referring to Woodnutt and his business partner in unflattering terms began to appear around the local area - notably on St Helens Fort.
[4] Woodnutt conceded that he had probably lost the support of votes below the age of 30, and that the Labour Party had effectively entered a pact with the Liberals to ensure his defeat.
Their son, Martin, married Susannah, daughter of William Herbert Harrison, J.P. by his wife Elcha Cecilia Hore-Ruthven, of the family of the Lords Ruthven of Freeland.