Dover was latterly Director of Housing Construction with the Greater London Council, before entering politics on a full-time basis when he became an MP.
Dover served on the London Borough of Barnet Council, and was a Member of its Education, Finance and Public Works Committees.
Dover served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Chorley, from May 1979 to April 1997, until he was defeated by Labour candidate Lindsay Hoyle, a future Speaker of the House of Commons.
(This came after the Conservatives' Leader in Europe, Giles Chichester, resigned because he put large sums of money for secretarial and office work through the account of a company of which he was a paid director.)
Dover was forced to resign by acting Conservative MEP Leader, Philip Bushill-Matthews, who had been appointed only a day prior.