Before entering politics, Buckland was a barrister practicing in Wales, and also sat as a recorder (a type of part-time judge) in the Crown Court.

[5] Buckland stood as the Conservative Party candidate for Elli ward on Dyfed County Council in May 1993, winning the seat from Labour with a majority of just 3 votes.

[6] Following local government reorganisation, the Elli ward became part of the unitary Carmarthenshire County Council and Buckland stood again in 1995, losing to the Labour candidate by over 200 votes.

[7] At the 1994 European Parliament election, Buckland stood in South Wales West, coming second with 12.2% of the vote behind the Labour candidate David Morris.

[17] On 15 July 2014, Buckland was appointed Solicitor General for England and Wales, replacing Oliver Heald as part of a wide-ranging Government reshuffle.

[18] His appointment as Solicitor General for England and Wales in July 2014 attracted media attention after it was revealed he had been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Bar Standards Board in 2011.

Despite having no legal grounds to do so, Buckland sought to obtain documents relating to the incident that were held by a barrister representing one of the pupils involved.

"[20] In February 2015, it was reported that Buckland was one of a number of individuals investing in the Invicta Film Partnership, which HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had alleged to be a tax avoidance scheme.

[22] In January 2016, the Labour Party unsuccessfully proposed an amendment in Parliament that would have required private landlords to make their homes "fit for human habitation".

According to Parliament's register of interests, Buckland was one of 72 Conservative MPs who voted against the amendment who personally derived an income from renting out property.

The Conservative Government had responded to the amendment that they believed homes should be fit for human habitation but did not want to pass the new law that would explicitly require it.

[31] At the 2019 Conservative Party Conference, Buckland set out plans to ensure that sexual and violent offenders would be required to serve two-thirds of their custodial sentence in prison, as opposed to half.

[26] In September 2020, Buckland stated on The Andrew Marr Show that he would resign only if the UK Internal Market Bill broke the law "in a way I find unacceptable".

[39] On 13 August, Buckland wrote an article in The Daily Telegraph, changing his support from Rishi Sunak to Liz Truss in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election after disagreements with the former about the proposed British Bill of Rights.

At the 2022 Conservative Party Conference, Buckland stated his view that benefits should be uprated in line with inflation, amid a public debate on the matter, along with fellow cabinet ministers Penny Mordaunt and Chloe Smith.

After leaving the role of Welsh Secretary, Buckland accepted an appointment to lead a review into boosting employment opportunities for autistic people on behalf of the Government and the Department for Work and Pensions in 2023.

[42] The November 2023 cabinet reshuffle saw Simon Hoare, the chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, made a local government minister, with Buckland announcing his intention to run to replace him as chairman.

[49] Buckland was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 2022 Political Honours and was invested by King Charles III in November 2022.