Tom Brake

The Right Honourable Tom Brake MP
Member of Parliament for Carshalton and Wallington
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Nigel Forman
Majority	5,260 (11.5%)
Personal details
Born	6 May 1962 (1962-05-06) Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal Democrat
Spouse(s)	Candida Goulden

Thomas Anthony Brake, known as Tom Brake, (born 6 May 1962) British Liberal Democrat politician. He is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carshalton and Wallington.

Early life

Tom Brake was born in Melton Mowbray, moving to France when he was eight. He was educated at the Lycée International School in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris, and Imperial College London, where he obtained a BSc in Physics in 1983. He was a computer software consultant with Hoskyns (Capgemini) from 1983 until his election to Westminster. He was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hackney in 1988, leaving the council in 1990.

Parliamentary career

He stood for election to Parliament at the 1992 general election in Carshalton and Wallington, but was defeated by nearly 10,000 votes by the sitting Conservative MP Nigel Forman.

In 1994 Tom Brake was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Sutton and sat on the council until 1998. In what proved to be a close contest, Tom Brake was elected at the 1997 general election as the Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, beating Nigel Forman with a majority of 2,267, and has remained the MP since. He made his maiden speech on 10 June 1997. Nigel Forman retired after the 1997 election and was replaced by a new candidate in the shape of Ken Andrew, whom Brake defeated in 2001, 2005 and again in 2010 with an increased majority.

After the 1997 election, party leader Paddy Ashdown placed Tom Brake in the frontline straight away as a spokesman on the Environment, Transport and the Regions. Following the 2001 General Election, then party leader Charles Kennedy appointed him a spokesman on Transport, Local Government and the Regions. In 2002 he became a Transport spokesman. He joined the Liberal Democrat Frontbench Team in 2003 as the lead International Development spokesman. After the 2005 General Election he became the Transport spokesman. He was relieved of this position under the new leadership of Sir Menzies Campbell in March 2006, and he later that year became spokesperson for local government. In February 2007, he was also appointed as the party’s frontbench spokesperson for London and the Olympics. In 2008 he was also appointed as a Home Affairs Shadow Minister.

Tom Brake is the Secretary of the All-Party Group for World Government, Treasurer of the All-Party Human Rights group, a member of the Franco British Parliamentary Relations group. Brake was the first MP to endorse Fair Spend, a new student discount initiative.

In June 2010 Tom was named Co-Chair of the new Liberal Democrat Backbench Committee on Home Affairs, Justice and Equalities. Tom will Co-Chair the committee alongside Baroness Hamwee and Lord Thomas of Gresford OBE QC.

In September 2010 Tom attempted to introduce a bill to "to amend the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to remove provisions permitting Ministers to overrule decisions of the Information Commissioner and Information Tribunal; to limit the time allowed for public authorities to respond to requests involving consideration of the public interest; to amend the definition of public authorities; and for connected purposes."

On 9 December 2010, Brake was one of 28 Liberal Democrat MPs to vote in favour of Government proposals to increase the upper limit on university tuition fees, having previously signed an NUS pledge promising to vote against tuition fee increases.

On 11 June 2011, it was announced Brake would be appointed a Privy Counsellor in the Queen's 2011 Birthday Honours list. On 13 July 2011, Brake was officially appointed and made the affirmation of office.

Personal life

Brake spent ten years living in France during his childhood and speaks fluent French, with some Portuguese and Russian. He married Candida Goulden in 1998, and they have two children. He keeps fit by running and cycling. Brake also runs an annual Christmas card competition in his local area for primary school children. In December 2011, Brake was given the honour of being invited to attend the opening ceremony of Wallington High School For Girls's Sports Hall.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Tom Brake MP official site
• Profile at the Liberal Democrats
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Profile: Tom Brake at BBC News, 8 March 2005
• Contributor page at The Guardian

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Nigel Forman	Member of Parliament for Carshalton and Wallington 1997–present	Incumbent