Richard joined the Liberal Democrats in 1991 and became involved in local campaigning very quickly assisting local Councillors in the Otley ward of Leeds North West to both win and retain their council seats.

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Having developed an interest in politics from a very young age, Richard soon took a degree in the subject at Coventry University where he helped launch a Liberal Democrat Society and became its Vice-Chair. The year spent as Vice-Chair was taken up with the recruitment of new members and the organisation of University-wide campaigns such as free tuition fees. In the same year, Richard was also elected as an LDYS Executive Member of the West Midlands Region and campaigned in the target seat of Hereford for the then candidate, and later MP for the area, Paul Keetch.

On return from Coventry, Richard became an Executive Member of Leeds North West Liberal Democrats, and later its Vice-Chair, where he again became involved in local campaigns, only this time at the constituency level, playing an active part in the recruitment of new members and managing volunteers on action days. As a member of the Campaign Team in the run-up to the 2005 General Election, Richard was part of the successful campaign, which saw Greg Mulholland elected to parliament for the first time.

Richard continues to be an active member of the Liberal Democrats. As Chair and Vice-Chair of Leeds North East Liberal Democrats between 2011 and 2014, he was responsible for successfully organising survey nights in the target ward of Moortown and stood as a Leeds City Council candidate in both the 2012 and 2014 Local Elections. After leaving Keele in October 2016 he joined both the Executive and Campaign Team of Newcastle under Lyme Liberal Democrats in a bid to secure the election of Marion Reddish to Staffordshire County Council for the Westlands and Thistleberry Electoral Division at the May 2017 Local Elections. Following on from these elections Richard became the Parliamentary Candidate for the constituency of Stoke on Trent North at the upcoming General Election on June 8th.