He was a senior executive (1964–78) of Sidney C. Banks Ltd., Sandy, Bedfordshire, a member of the London Corn Exchange (1970–79 and 1987–97), and was a Director of Granfin Agriculture Ltd., Stoke Ferry, Norfolk (1979–83).
On 4 April 1991, the London Evening Standard carried a front-page attack by the Monday Club against the proposed appointment of Janet Street-Porter for the position of the BBC's Head of Arts and Culture.
During his tenure as a Member of Parliament, John Carlisle regularly hosted Monday Club meetings in Committee Rooms at the House of Commons.
The Almanac of British Politics recorded him as backing hanging and flogging, and opposing feminism, homosexual law reform and the EEC.
[citation needed] Carlisle was opposed to the Gleneagles Agreement of 1977 which discouraged sporting ties to the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Advocating the right of sportsmen to play wherever they wished, he offered his support for the 1982 English rebels tour saying that "many of us will salute the courage that has been shown by these players.
[6] Nevertheless, this defence of the South African government prompted journalist Edward Pearce to label him "the member for Bloemfontein West".