Sebastian Burroughs, like most of the early Free Democrats, was elected to Parliament in April 3112. His early and enthusiastic support for Party Leader Esabelle de Pourbaix proved to help him greatly. As a reward for his early support, de Pourbaix named Burroughs the first Deputy Leader of the Free Democrats. He also announced that every two years the party would hold a conference in December in order to update the party platform and elect the Executive Committee. Burroughs asked MP's to challenge him for the leadership in order to hold a real vote of confidence.