Hoey has attracted a high level of attention throughout her career, but particularly in the 2010s, holding many socially conservative views that brought her into conflict with fellow members of Labour.

She was the 1966 Northern Ireland high jump champion[7] and has worked for football clubs including Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers, Chelsea and Brentford as an educational advisor.

[9] As a member of the Labour Party, she unsuccessfully contested Dulwich at the 1983 and 1987 general elections, being defeated by the Conservative Gerald Bowden, on the second occasion by only 180 votes.

In 2005, she called on Tony Blair to put diplomatic pressure on South Africa to condemn Zimbabwean government demolitions of townships, after an unsanctioned visit to the country.

[14] On 29 April 2008, it was announced that Hoey would form part of the team of Conservative Boris Johnson, should he become Mayor, as an unpaid non-executive director advising on sport and the 2012 Olympics.

[15] The announcement was controversial both because Hoey had once said of London's Olympic bid "we don't deserve it and Paris does"[16] and because it could have been perceived as endorsing an election candidate from a rival party.

[22] She has voted against Labour government policy on the war in Iraq, foundation hospitals, Trident, university tuition and top-up fees, ID cards and extended detention without trial.

[30][better source needed] Hoey advocated the United Kingdom leaving the European Union during the campaign for the EU membership referendum held on 23 June 2016.

She pointed to Labour's earlier Euroscepticism "from Attlee to Foot" in The Independent and changes in European bodies since Jacques Delors' advocacy of a "social Europe" to refute the claim that Eurosceptism was a movement of the right.

[35][36] Her Constituency Labour Party (CLP) stated in February 2017 that she was insufficiently opposing Conservative government policy on child refugees and the residency rights of EU nationals after the UK leaves.

[40] Hoey attracted criticism again from within the Labour Party and from Irish political figures in February 2018 after she said the Good Friday Agreement was "not sustainable in the long term".

Simon Coveney, the Republic of Ireland's Tánaiste (deputy head of government) and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, condemned the comments as "not only irresponsible but reckless".

Owen Smith, the Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said the remarks by Hannan, Paterson and Hoey were a "concerted, transparent effort to undermine the GFA... driven by their blind, misplaced faith in Brexit" and were "reckless and utterly wrong".

[48] In February 2021 Hoey, together with Jim Allister, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice, and former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib, applied for a judicial review of the Northern Ireland Protocol, that was ultimately dismissed by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

[49][50][51] It was later revealed that the UK Government had spent a total of £196,567 of public money on legal fees associated with defending the judicial actions against the Northern Ireland Protocol.

[53] In January 2022, Hoey faced widespread criticism after writing "there are very justified concerns that many professional vocations [in Northern Ireland] have become dominated by those of a nationalist persuasion, and this positioning of activists is then used to exert influence on those in power" in the foreword for a loyalist pamphlet.

[54] Hoey's comments initially incited a vocal reaction on social media,[55] with some from a Catholic background posting their educational achievements in response.

[54] Sinn Féin vice-president and Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill labelled the piece "outrageous" and called on Hoey to withdraw the remarks, saying they were a throwback to a "bygone era".

[54] Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA Matthew O'Toole accused Hoey of promoting a "McCarthyite tactic of othering members of the judiciary, lawyers, academics or journalists just because you disagree with them".

[57] Alliance Party MP Stephen Farry said she was espousing an 'enemy within' argument that was "inaccurate, sinister, and dangerous" and represented a "further shameful intervention" from Hoey.

[59] Journalist Susan McKay described the remarks as sectarian and "distasteful" and linked them to historic Protestant resentment of increasing Catholic social mobility in Northern Ireland.