[1] After graduation she began teaching children aged between 9 and 15, and also ran the local youth theatre.

[2] Her work to gain funding for the youth theatre brought her into contact with local politicians, and she became involved in politics, joining the Labour Party.

[2] In 1983, she ran for a seat in the House of Commons but was not elected, instead spending a year working on local issues before she was elected as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Birmingham East constituency).

She stepped down as an MEP in 1999, and is now a member of the West Midlands Regional Assembly and a sponsor of the National Women's Network.

[citation needed] She was Chair of the Women's National Commission between 1999 and 2001, and in 1998 was created Baroness Crawley, of Edgbaston in the County of West Midlands.