[1] He immediately made himself prominent with attacks on the Duke of Buckingham, calling him "the cause of all their grievances" and declaring that it was unfit that he should hold so many great offices.
When the House ordered Turner to explain his words he did so by letter without appearing in person, and illness - perhaps diplomatic - prevented him taking his seat again before Parliament was dissolved.
Turner was next chosen to represent Shaftesbury in the Short Parliament as a replacement for Edward Hyde, who had been elected for more than one constituency).
He was one of the minority who voted against Strafford's attainder, and when the Civil War broke out immediately joined the Royal army and was commissioned as a captain.
The Oxford antiquary Anthony Wood described Turner as "a man of very loose principles", though this probably referred only to the fact that he had an illegitimate son.