On leaving school he joined the employ of Lloyds Bank[3] and was working in its Shrewsbury branch at his election to parliament in 1979.
[3] He first attempted to enter parliament when he contested the marginal Labour seat of Wolverhampton North East[2] unsuccessfully in the February and October 1974 general elections[2] against its sitting MP Renee Short.
[1] He was successful in gaining the also marginal Labour Wrekin seat in the 1979 general election by a majority of 965 votes from Gerry Fowler.
[2] He was adopted as a parliamentary candidate in 1990[4] and returned to parliament in the 1992 general election for the safer seat of Halesowen and Stourbridge following the retirement of his predecessor Sir John Stokes.
Following his defeat in 1987, Hawksley and his then wife bought and built up the Edderton Hall hotel at Forden, Montgomeryshire, in Wales, selling it as a successful concern in 1997.