He was British High Commissioner to India, 1960 to 1965, then Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Head of HM Diplomatic Service, retiring in 1969, after which was created a life peer and went into business.

[1] His aunt was the Irish republican and socialist revolutionary, Countess Constance Markievicz (née Gore-Booth).

He served as Head of the UN Economic and Social and Refugees Departments, 1947–48; Head of European Recovery Department, Foreign Office, 1948–49; Director of British Information Services in United States, 1949–53; Ambassador to Burma, 1953–56; Deputy Under-Secretary (Economic Affairs), Foreign Office, 1956–60; British High Commissioner in India, 1960–65; Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office, 1965–69; and Head of HM Diplomatic Service, 1968–69.

[1] After retirement from the civil service Gore-Booth was a director of Grindlays Bank and the United Kingdom Provident Institution, 1969–1979.

[1] After Oxford, in 1940 Gore-Booth married Patricia Mary Ellerton, by whom he had twin sons and two daughters.