Her father is former Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan, and she was educated at Blackheath High School. In 1969, she married fellow-journalist, Peter Jay, who was later appointed ambassador to the United States of America by Callaghan. While in the USA, she met Carl Bernstein, with whom she had a much-publicised relationship in 1979 -- with the result that she was unflatteringly depicted in a novel by Bernstein's wife, Nora Ephron. She and Jay were divorced in 1986, after eighteen years of marriage.
She was a journalist with the BBC before her creation as a Baroness in 1992. She was an opposition Whip, and after her party's election victory was made Minister for Women and later Leader of the House of Lords. She retired from politics in 2001.