Career
He was Labour Party Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Bexleyheath and Crayford in London from 1997 to 2005. He previously contested several Parliamentary constituencies: Woking at the 1979 general election, Portsmouth North at the 1983 general election and Erith and Crayford at the 1992 general election. In the 1997 general election he was returned as member for Bexleyheath and Crayford.
Before this he had been senior research manager for Imperial Chemical Industries and Zeneca.
He retained the seat at the 2001 election but lost it in the 2005 election, to David Evennett of the Conservative Party. Beard was a loyal follower of the Labour whip, voting for the Iraq War and other Government policies.
He also introduced a Private Member"s Bill to fix British Summer Time as standard all year round.