Sally is a member of the House of Lords (appointed as a Liberal Democrat working peer in 1991). She has led for the Lib Dems on Local Government and Home Affairs, including Immigration. She has been a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, and is Chair of the Lords Justice and Home Affairs Select Committee.
Her political background is in local and London government; she was a councillor in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames for 20 years and a member of the Greater London Authority for its first eight years, much of that time chairing the London Assembly. By profession a solicitor, she was a partner in the London firm Clintons which specialises in the creative industries. Theatre has always been a passion (she remains a stagestruck 18 year old at heart) and she is also a trustee of the Rose Theatre, Kingston. Sally has been a trustee since 2014.