 Ramsden sat as Member of Parliament for Harrogate from 1954 to 1974.He served under Harold Macmillan as Under-Secretary of State and Financial Secretary for War from 1960 to 1963 and under Sir Alec Douglas-Home as Secretary of State for War from 1963 to 1964.At the April 1964 reshuffle, the former cabinet positions of First Lord of the Admiralty and Secretary of State for Air, along with Ramsden's post, were incorporated into an expanded Ministry of Defence, under the leadership of the new position of Secretary of State for Defence.