Career
Ward became a parliamentary researcher after graduating from Oxford and spent 6 years working for Sir Keir Starmer. [5] From 2015,Ward was employed as Starmer's speechwriter and political advisor. Following Starmer's victory in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election,Ward became one of Starmer's closest advisors as part of a group branded by backbencher Labour MPs the "gang of five" which included Morgan McSweeney and Jenny Chapman. Ward went on to become the Deputy Chief of Staff to Starmer before leaving his advisory role in July 2021. [9] [10]
After leaving his advisory role,Ward worked for Hanbury Strategy as a director [11] starting in January 2022. [12] Hanbury Strategy is a registered lobbying firm and political and public affairs consultancy agency, [12] [13] where he led the section dedicated to the Labour Party. [14] During his time at the company, [15] Hanbury advised clients including Amazon,Deliveroo,Flutter,UBS,Blackstone and Rockhopper [13] among others. [12] During this time,Ward wrote an article for a Conservative political publication The Spectator . [16]
Ward was selected as prospective parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven [17] following the suspension of Lloyd Russell-Moyle from the Labour Party regarding allegations dating back to 2016. According to left-wing political commentator Owen Jones,Ward had expressed an interest in becoming a Member of Parliament in the Brighton area many years previously. [13] The suspension of Russell-Moyle triggered an emergency meeting the next day, [18] immediately following which Ward was announced as Labour's new candidate. More than 200 members of the local Labour Party protested against the method of Ward's selection, [19] and Nancy Platts [20] former Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council questioned the fairness of the process. [21] His Labour general election campaign launch was interrupted by pro-Palestinian activists protesting against the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, [22] with Ward accused of being a parachute candidate. [19]
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