Burchell was narrowly defeated for the colonial seat of Claremont at the 1911 state election, during which he developed a reputation as a strong campaigner.

He publicly campaigned for a "Yes" vote in the 1916 Australian conscription referendum, and that year joined Prime Minister Billy Hughes in leaving the Labor Party over the issue of conscription, joining Hughes' new National Labor Party.

[1][6] In January 1917, Burchell enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force to serve in World War I and was appointed to the rank of lieutenant.

However, he soon after moved to Sydney, where he worked as advertising manager for The Sunday Times and board director of Beckett's Newspapers Ltd, then as a representative of Australian Radio Technical Services and Patents, a subsidiary of Amalgamated Wireless.

He remained occasionally involved in politics, opening the NSW state election campaign of Hughes' splinter Australian Party and serving as its organising secretary in 1930 and campaigning for a "Yes" vote in the 1933 New South Wales referendum on Legislative Council reform.