Michael Ward

Who was Michael Ward?

Michael John Ward was a British Labour Party politician.

Ward was educated at Royal Liberty Grammar School, Romford and Manchester University. He became a local government advisor and director of a public relations firm. He was elected to Romford Borough Council in 1958, joining the new Havering London Borough Council in 1964. He was a member of the Essex river authority from 1964 and local government officer at the Labour Party 1961-65.

Having contested the seat three times previously, Ward was elected Member of Parliament for Peterborough in the October 1974 general election, defeating the Conservative Party's incumbent Sir Harmar Nicholls. 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. Ward subsequently joined the Social Democratic Party but later rejoined Labour, working for the Greenwich constituency Labour Party. In 2005, his daughter Alison Seabeck was elected the Labour MP for Plymouth Devonport.