Prior to his election to Parliament, Woodcock was a political adviser who worked as an aide to Prime Minister Gordon Brown and John Hutton.

In May 2015, Woodcock was appointed Shadow Minister for Young People, but resigned in September 2015, following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as party leader.

[15] Shortly after the announcement of the 2017 general election, Woodcock said he "will not countenance" voting to place Corbyn into Downing Street because of the Labour leader's opposition to the Trident renewal programme.

[19] On 16 January 2019, Woodcock abstained in the vote of confidence in Theresa May's Conservative government, saying Corbyn was "unfit to lead the country".

According to Heather Stewart of The Guardian, the senior figure "did not dispute the sincerity of the allegations against Woodcock" and there was "no suggestion the staff member’s complaint was motivated by the NEC email."

[29][30] He has since claimed that he pressed Parliament's independent grievance system to accept non-recent complaints so that his case could be heard.

[34] He was nominated alongside four other former Labour MPs who had backed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal and/or endorsed his party at the 2019 general election.

[35] In the unpaid role, he was commissioned to conduct a review on the subject matter and present it to the Prime Minister and Home Secretary prior to publication.

In November 2023, Woodcock advocated giving police the power to ban pro-Palestinian protests on the streets of Britain if they were deemed to contribute to an atmosphere of intimidation against Jews.

[36] In May 2024, it was revealed that Woodcock would recommend banning groups like Palestine Action and Just Stop Oil in an upcoming report.

[43] In April 2020, Woodcock was named as part of a consortium, led by Robbie Gibb and including William Shawcross and John Ware, that put in a bid to purchase the assets of The Jewish Chronicle.

[49] He is paid chair of the Purpose Defence Coalition, members of which include arms manufacturer Leonardo, which has "extensive links" to Israel’s military.

[50] He is paid chair of the Purpose Business Coalition, members of which include Leonardo and oil company BP.

[51] The groups Good Law Project and Compassion in Politics made an official complaint to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards, stating that Woodcock "has a commercial interest in organisations whose clients have been targeted by the very protesters whose activities he seeks to ban".

[50] Walney announced the complaint had been dismissed [52] Woodcock was married to Mandy Telford, former President of the National Union of Students.