 His federal parliamentary career ended at the 2013 election, when he lost his parliamentary seat to Darell Leiking of the People's Justice Party (PKR).Bernard was recalled from his posting following the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government's decision to stop the previous practice adopted by the Barisan Nasional (BN) of appointing politicians to head overseas missions.He is currently married to Puan Sri Diana Alip and the couple have five children in total (four from his current marriage and one from a previous marriage).