 His early career was promising and he became Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Richard Crossman.He annoyed a number of ministers and was heavily censured by the Privileges Committee for a leak about the biological weapons research establishment, Porton Down, to the newspapers (though he said that he thought the draft minutes of the Select Committee on Science and Technology were in the public domain).When Labour were defeated in 1970, his chances of senior office were effectively over.