Cormack contested the safe Labour parliamentary seat of Bolsover at the 1964 general election, where he lost to the sitting MP Harold Neal, who won with a majority of 23,103 votes.

At the 1966 general election, Cormack contested his hometown seat of Grimsby, but again was defeated, this time by the secretary of state for education and science, Anthony Crosland, who had a majority of 8,126.

In 1967, he was appointed an assistant house master at the Wrekin College in Wellington, Shropshire, for two years, after which he became the head of history at Brewood Grammar School in 1969.

[2] Prior to 1970, Cormack was a member of the Bow Group and the Conservative Monday Club, resigning from both at the end of 1971.

[6] An opponent to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's monetarist economic policies, in November 1981, with national unemployment approaching 3,000,000 (compared to 1,500,000 two years previously), Cormack urged Thatcher to change her government's policies if Britain was to avoid economic disaster.

The vote in South Staffordshire was postponed at the 2005 general election due to the death of the Liberal Democrat candidate Jo Harrison.

[8][9] In July 2007, the South Staffordshire Conservatives' executive council voted on the matter, but it resulted in a tie.

[10] In the vote, held on 14 September, Cormack was readopted as the Conservative candidate, receiving the backing of over 75% of participating party members.

[12] Although having a reputation as a serious parliamentarian, on occasions he was known for asking light hearted questions in the House of Commons, once simply asking Prime Minister Gordon Brown at PMQ's what he wanted for Christmas.

Cormack opposed the Coalition's plans to reform the House of Lords, speaking out against them numerous times in the chamber.

He was a council member of British Archaeology since 1979, and was also a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass for the same length of time.

[2] A committed Christian, Cormack was a rector's warden at Parliament's parish church, St Margaret's, Westminster, from 1978 to 1990.