Chef de cabinet
From 1949 to 1951, she served as Principal Private Secretary to James Chuter Ede, the then Home Secretary. She was the first woman to hold this appointment. When Sir David Maxwell Fyfe became Home Secretary, she remained on as his Principal Private Secretary. In 1961, she was promoted to Assistant Under-Secretary of State and appointed head of the Children's Department. In 1963, she moved to the Cabinet Office.