[1] In the 1768 general election, Hoghton stood in a contentious contest at Preston with John Burgoyne, Lord Derby's candidate on a joint interest against the corporation.
He spoke frequently on matters relating to Lancashire, and several times tried to obtain relief for Protestant Dissenters who were disadvantaged by the Test and Corporation Acts.
His obituary in the Gentleman's Magazine stated "The uniform tenor of his conduct as a member of parliament for near thirty years, during which he represented the borough of Preston, was highly respectable and exemplary.
In the agitation of great political questions he did not suffer his judgment to be controlled by party sprit, but conscientiously decided as appeared to him most for the welfare of the state.
To the local interests of the town he represented, and indeed to the spirit of improvement which has of late so much distinguished the whole manufacturing county of Lancaster, he approved himself at all times a zealous friend."