In the 1980s, Sandys was a Director of Barter Group, an organisation doing business by exchange of goods or services rather than cash in the former Eastern Bloc.[5] She moved on to lead the Parliamentary Unit at the Consumers' Association. Sandys has also worked in public relations; since 1992 she worked through Laura Sandys Associates, also known by its abbreviation LSA. She later became Head of Communications at the Shopping Hours Reform Council, an organisation which promotes allowing shops to open on Sundays.[6] She is also a journalist, also writing for newspapers, and a commentator appearing on television and radio on a wide range of issues, including urban development and the Iraq war. She contributed the opening chapter Paul Cornish's book The War in Iraq (October 2004).[7]
Sandys completed an Open University course on Environment and Development in 1993 and is currently a trustee of the Open University Foundation, which was established in 1973 as an independent charitable trust to further the objects of the University. She is a non-executive director on the board of openDemocracy;[8] her biography on that site describes her as: "having experience of political structures across Europe, Turkey, South America and the US". The site also states that she has worked as a journalist and policy strategist in Washington D.C.[9] She was appointed a Trustee of the Civic Trust on 18 July 2000 and is a member of its Policy Committee.[10] and was also a Senior Research Associate for the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College London.[11] She also completed a Master's degree in International Relations at Wolfson College, Cambridge in 2003.[12]
In 2006, Sandys was placed on the new 'A-list' of Conservative candidates ahead of the 2010 general election.[16] In October 2006, she was selected to stand as the Conservative candidate for Thanet South, defeating Mark MacGregor, the party's previous candidate at the 2001 and 2005 elections.[17] The constituency was then held by Stephen Ladyman for the Labour Party. She lives locally within the constituency in the town of Ramsgate with her husband, Randolph Kent, whom she married on 3 September 2007 in Ramsgate, Kent.[3][18]
In August 2014, Sandys announced that she would not be standing in the 2015 general election.[19] She explained, "I have been considering my future in light of a wide range of family demands and have decided that I cannot combine the level of dedication and service needed for the constituency with my growing personal responsibilities to those closest and dearest to me."[20]
As Chair of the European Movement, Sandys played a role in campaigning to remain in the EU during the 2016 referendum on EU membership. After the result, she resigned as Chair of the Movement and was succeeded by Richard Corbett.[citation needed]
^Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster (22 January 1993). "Parliament publications/Hansard 1993". Publications.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)