Bayley was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire and was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College, the University of Bristol, where he obtained a Politics BSc degree in 1974, before pursuing further studies at the University of York where he was awarded a BPhil degree in Southern African Studies in 1976.
Bayley was elected as a Councillor in the London Borough of Camden in 1980 and became the General Secretary of the International Broadcasting Trust in 1982.