Always at the centre of London, the capital and of politics, education and business, Donoughue was a member of the editorial staff of "The Economist" in 1959 and 1960 when a young Labour activist supporting Hugh Gaitskell. He was senior research officer of the Political and Economic Planning Institute between 1960 and 1963. For a long time a lecturer close to young people, he was asked by the Wilson government to join the founding Sports Council, an advisory body to harness amateur physical recreation. Twenty years later he would make his first speech in the Lords on Sporting Events (controls) bill.