[citation needed] Before her political career, she was a computer programmer and systems analyst from 1962 to 1974, and a director of the Save the Children Foundation from 1974 to 1985.

"[8] Nicholson fought for the release of Katiza Cebekhulu, the "missing witness" in the case of the death of Stompie Seipei.

[11] As an MP Nicholson voted for Section 28 which banned schools and local authorities from promoting homosexuality[12] and denounced lesbian families as "neither normal nor natural".

[13] She also voted against an equal age of consent for heterosexuals and homosexuals[14] and her opposition to gay rights led a group called the Lesbian Avengers to organise a "tea party-cum-protest" on her lawn.

She was a member of European Union Election Observation Missions to Palestine (2005), Azerbaijan (2005), Lebanon (2005), Afghanistan (2005), Armenia (2007) and Pakistan (2008).

In February 2010, she founded the All-party parliamentary group (APPG) for Business Development in Iraq and the Regions[23] and has served as its chair.

[25] In 2013 she argued that the Iraq War was "resoundingly" worth it, and claiming Liberal Democrat party members who took an opposing stance were "guilty of hypocrisy".

Listing her reasons for rejoining the Tories, she highlighted Theresa May's education speech on 9 September, quoting May's position on grammar schools as evidence that the prime minister "leads a party with a real commitment to delivering for the next generation and building a country that works for everyone".

[clarification needed][28] Baroness Nicholson visited Kazakhstan as Prime Minister's Trade Envoy on 28 April 2019.

[32] Lady Nicholson is the Executive Chairman of the AMAR Foundation,[33] which works to rebuild and improve the lives of disadvantaged communities in war-torn areas.

[38] She is vice-president of The Little Foundation, and is Honorary Advisor to the Prime Minister and Government of Iraq on Public Health and related issues.

[42] On 9 May 1987, Nicholson married Sir Michael Harris Caine, with whom she had a foster son Amar Kanim, who was rescued from Iraq after surviving a napalm attack in March 1991.

[46] Nicholson claims that nurses at the King Edward VII refused to call consultants and doctors despite her husband's distress when a breathing tube could not be cleared.

[47] In September 1999 The Guardian reported that Baroness Nicholson was due to pursue legal action against the hospital alleging negligence.

[46] In light of her husband's death, Baroness Nicholson said:I find it repugnant that NHS beds should be used as a final resource by the private hospitals who set themselves up as being able to cope and yet demonstrably cannot.