He stood for the Labour Party in the safe Conservative seat of East Fife in the 1970 general election, losing to the sitting MP Sir John Gilmour.

The Labour government fell at the ensuing 1979 general election, although Ewing retained his seat with a substantially increased majority.

After his retirement, he was created a life peer taking the title Baron Ewing of Kirkford, of Cowdenbeath[1] in the District of Dunfermline on 17 July 1992.

He was chairman of Fife Healthcare NHS Trust from 1996 to 1998, honorary president of the Girls' Brigade of Scotland, and patron of Scottish Overseas Aid.

Lord Ewing, who lived in Fife, died of cancer in hospital in Dunfermline in June 2007, at the age of 76.