Throughout his time as an MP, Hayward continued to referee rugby union, having qualified in 1980. Following his election defeat in 1992, he was promoted to national level and officiated at division 3 and 4 and county championship matches. Hayward refereed the first inter-parliamentary rugby game – between Britain and France in 1991.
Gulf War hostages
Hayward was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his services to friends and families of hostages prior to the Gulf War in 1991 Iraq War, when he established and ran, with others, the Gulf Support Group for civilians who were held after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. This service ran initially from Hayward's home then from offices in London.
After Parliament
Following his Commons career, in 1994 he became Chief Executive of the British Soft Drinks Association. He then moved to become Chief Executive of the Beer and Pub Association in 1999, a post he held until 2009. Hayward has been a prominent spokesmen on gay and lesbian issues since coming out after leaving parliament, and in 1996 was one of the founding members and first Chairman of the Kings Cross Steelers who successfully competed as the first Gay Rugby Union team in the world. As of 2015, he is currently a Vice-President of the club. Hayward was Recipient of national Rugby Writers Award on 13.1.19 for ‘services to rugby’. In addition, Hayward was also a board member of Stonewall for seven years and finance chairman from 1999 until 2003. Hayward stepped down as CEO of the Beer and Pub Association to concentrate on his career as a psephologist and political analyst. He was an advisor to the then-Chairman of the Conservative Party and was widely credited with identifying 'motorway man' as a key factor in the 2010 general election. During 2009/10 he had responsibility for preparing policy for the Conservative Party to reduce the size of the House of Commons. He subsequently worked at Conservative Campaign Headquarters on the Conservative Party's proposals for the abortive 2011–13 boundary review. Hayward was Deputy Chairman of Central YMCA from 2011 until 2017, and Treasurer of Dignity in Dying from 2012 to 2015. He was also adviser to the board of Terence Higgins Trust and, from 2012 to 2014, a non-executive director of Portcullis Public Affairs. Since 2014 Hayward has been Presenter of the Business Breakfast Show on Colourful Radio. It was announced on 15 May 2012 that Robert Hayward would be chairing the government's Public Sector Equality Duty review. This review was completed in September 2013. In January 2015 he identified that the opinion polls were under-estimating the Conservative vote and over-estimating the Labour vote for the upcoming General Election. The percentage deviations identified were proved to be almost precisely accurate at the election in May.. Similarly, he spoke on Newsnight and other broadcast media forecasting a leave result at Britain's European referendum.
Return to Parliament
On 27 August 2015 it was announced in the Dissolution Honours List that Hayward would be awarded a life peerage. He was created Baron Hayward, of Cumnor in the County of Oxfordshire, on 28 September 2015. In June 2016, Hayward sponsored the Assisted Dying Bill 2016–17 in the House of Lords. In 2017, he revealed that he has been living with multiple sclerosis. In December 2017 and January 2018, Lord Hayward appeared on Sky News and other media channels campaigning against the use of plastic wrapping of fruit and vegetables by supermarkets. Asked a series of questions supporting the extension of plastic bags charge to all shops- Lords order paper June/July 2019. 'One of the architects of the Westminster Marriage Equality Bill’ -SDLP Autumn Report 2019 ‘One half of the Parliamentary odd couple’ with Conor McGinn MP supporting marriage equality in Northern Ireland- Guardian 6th Jan 2019
