After the war he worked for the Southern Daily Echo in Southampton and the Star, a London evening paper. He contested for Labour the safe Conservative seat of Finchley in 1955, gaining 17,408 votes, and coming second by more than 20%. He never stood again for election.[1]
In the mid-1950s he moved to the Daily Express, which at that time was owned by Lord Beaverbrook and was the UK's best-selling national daily newspaper, having a daily circulation of about 4 million copies. He became foreign editor under Edward Pickering; he interviewed Nikita Khrushchev in 1957. He later served under Bob Edwards, and was in charge of the largest number of foreign correspondents in the British press at the time.[1]
After Beaverbrook died in 1964, and Edwards ceased to be Express editor the following year, Lancaster was appointed by Hugh Cudlipp as editor of The People (now The Sunday People).[3] A columnist too, he was soon moved to become the political editor of the Daily Mirror in 1970, after his predecessor John Beavan was elevated to the House of Lords as Lord Ardwick. Lancaster later also became assistant editor. He had a good rapport with prime minister Harold Wilson and his circle, including his press secretary Joe Haines. After Wilson stood down as PM in 1976, Haines was appointed to the paper at his suggestion.[3]
After Robert Maxwell gained ownership of the Mirror titles in 1984, Lancaster was the ghost writer of Maxwell's statement of principles, but Maxwell interfered editorially, despite promising otherwise. Lancaster co-wrote an article with Geoffrey Goodman, at Maxwell's request, about miners' leader Arthur Scargill at the height of the 1984–85 miners' strike; according to Michael Leapman, the article was more vehemently critical than the Mirror had been hitherto. The article though was modified without their consent, according to Goodman, and they insisted on changes approved by editor Mike Molloy. The article was unsigned, because of Maxwell's interference, and both men soon left the newspaper.[3][4] Lancaster's friendship with Haines ended thanks to Maxwell's behaviour at the Mirror.[1]
Lancaster was briefly a writer for the Sunday edition of Eddy Shah's Today newspaper, and later press officer and speech writer for the Commons' speaker Betty Boothroyd from 1992,[3] and obituary writer for the Times and the Independent.[5]