Her candidacy attracted popular attention because she decided to stand when her baby daughter was just 8 days old.

She contested the 1945 general election as the Liberal Party candidate for Ilford North.

[3] Lady Rhys-Williams was a member of the Beveridge Committee and unsuccessfully proposed a Basic Income in the form of a negative income tax, as an alternative to the main, insurance based recommendation of the Beveridge Report.

[6][8] She later joined the Conservative Party, was the secretary (1947-1958) and chair (1958 onwards) of the United Europe Movement and editor of European Review.

[3] She was nevertheless against signing the Treaty of Rome and campaigned vigorously against joining the Common Market, which she thought would hand over British sovereignty to Europe and betray the Commonwealth.