 Chalker was educated at Roedean (where she was head girl), Heidelberg University, Queen Mary University of London and the University of Westminster (then known as the Polytechnic of Central London), and worked as a statistician and market researcher, including spells with Shell-Mex and BP and Opinion Research Centre (ORC), before entering Parliament as MP for Wallasey, Merseyside in 1974, succeeding the former Cabinet minister Ernest Marples.Chalker held a number of government posts, including spells as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Security from 1979 to 1982 and at the Department of Transport from 1982 to 1983.In 1983 she became Minister of State at Transport, being appointed Minister for Europe in 1986.