He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Reg Prentice, Secretary of State for Education and Science, and after Prentice left the government, Ward was PPS to Bill Rodgers, Minister of State in the Foreign Office. However, in 1979, Ward lost the marginal Peterborough seat to the Conservative Brian Mawhinney.
He held positions as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Reg Prentice, Secretary of State for Education and Science, and later to Bill Rodgers, Minister of State in the Foreign Office.  However, he lost his parliamentary seat in Peterborough to Brian Mawhinney in 1979.