He contested the marginal Bury North seat, having been just elected as chairman of the local constituency Labour Party, at the 1987 general election but was defeated by the sitting Conservative MP Alistair Burt by 6,911 votes. He contested the Conservative-held marginal seat of Bolton North East at the 1992 general election where the sitting MP Peter Thurnham was defending an 813 majority. Bolton North East became more marginal with Thurnham retaining the seat by just 185 votes.
Crausby remained the MP there from 1997 until 2019. His majority fell to 8,422 in 2001 and 4,103 in 2005. In the 2010 and 2015 general elections his majorities were 4,084 and 4,377. In the 2017 general election he was again returned, with a majority of 3,797.[2] He lost his seat to the Conservative Mark Logan by 378 votes in the 2019 general election.
In 2010 he became a member of the Speaker's Panel of Chairs [5] and has overseen many debates in the Commons on behalf of the speaker, including the historic European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.[6]
Crausby has a long-standing interest in improving railways in his constituency. He lobbied the last Labour government to address overcrowding and opposed the idea of a Greater Manchester congestion charge because of the lack of viable alternatives.[7] He campaigned to retain the Preston-Bolton-Manchester electrification project which was at risk of cancellation after Labour lost the 2010 election.[8] He has continued to lobby the Government through letters,[9] petitions,[10] and Parliamentary debates.[11] In 2018 Crausby led a debate on Northern trains and called for the resignation of Transport SecretaryChris Grayling after the disastrous May timetable caused mass disruption across the North of England.[12]
In 2011, Crausby won The House magazine's Commons Speech of the Year, for his speech on bringing the military covenant into law, beating the then prime minister, David Cameron.[16]
In February 2013, Crausby voted against the second reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.[17] Subsequently, in May 2013 the MP voted against the bill’s third and final reading,[18] opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage within England and Wales.
He married Enid Anne Noon in 1965 in Bury and they have two sons. His eldest son, also named David, is a commercial and editorial photographer; his work is represented by several agencies including Getty Images and Alamy. His son is currently based in Germany.[citation needed]