As an MP, Lloyd was an opposition spokesman between 1987 and 1997, a minister of state in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office between 1997 and 1999, and Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 2006 to 2012.

[1] In a directory of MPs produced by The Guardian, Andrew Roth described Lloyd as "well informed, thoughtful and realistic regionalist and internationalist".

[12] In 1998, an inquiry by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee into the supply of arms from Sandline International to Africa during the Sierra Leone Civil War led to accusations that Lloyd had been dishonest and lacked depth over the trade of illicit weaponry.

[15] When he unseated Clwyd, the feud between Blair and Gordon Brown was much reported[11] – Lloyd, was described by journalist Michael White as a "Brownite ally",[16] and Labour advisor Jonathan Powell wrote that Lloyd was a key member of Brown's "team of henchmen on the Labour backbenches to oppose Tony [Blair]".

[6] After revelations arising from the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal, Lloyd was forced to apologise for over-claiming £2,210 in rent on his flat in London, adding it was "a genuine error".

[13] Although the TheyWorkForYou political activities website declares that Lloyd "hardly ever rebels",[12] he voted against Labour's national agenda in key areas while an MP.

[12] Lloyd was strongly in favour of and voted for the reform of the House of Lords, the Identity Cards Act 2006, and the expansion of London Heathrow Airport.

[12][19] Lloyd supported the bid for a proposed supercasino for East Manchester, and was furious with the House of Lords and Gordon Brown for axing the scheme, adding it was "grossly unfair and outrageous" and that "those who kicked it into touch deprived a community with one of the highest levels of unemployment the opportunity to access well paid jobs and proper training".

[6] On 15 February 2012, Lloyd announced his intention to resign as a member of Parliament to stand as a candidate for the directly elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Greater Manchester.

[31] Lloyd said he was willing to leave the Manchester Central constituency – a Labour safe seat[32] – for the PCC role because in "all the years I have been a MP, one of the abiding issues that people raised with me was fear of crime".

[36] He was based at Salford Civic Centre and was required to devise a five-year strategic plan for Greater Manchester Police and hold Sir Peter Fahy, the force's chief constable, to account.

[36] On hearing the news that Lloyd had won the election, Fahy said "one of the key roles of the PCC was negotiating and influencing the other local authorities, the health service, businesses and other organisations... We will be expecting him to fight for GMP at a national level with the Home Office over resourcing and changes to legislation".

[42] Upon Sir Keir Starmer's election as Labour leader in spring 2020, Lloyd was replaced in this post by Ian Murray but continued as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

[43] Following his discharge from Manchester Royal Infirmary Lloyd stood down from his front bench role to concentrate on his recovery from COVID-19, but vowed to continue his work as a constituency MP.

[9][page needed][11] As a supporter of Manchester United, in March 2011 he tabled an early day motion in the House of Commons for their player Ryan Giggs to be knighted.

[50] In January 2024, Lloyd announced that he had chosen to end hospital treatment, following his cancer developing into an "aggressive and untreatable leukaemia".