Tom Brake


Tom Brake
Official portrait of Tom Brake crop 2.jpg
Liberal Democrat Spokesman for the Duchy of Lancaster
Assumed office
21 August 2019
LeaderJo Swinson
Preceded byOffice established
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Exiting the European Union
Assumed office
16 June 2017
LeaderTim Farron
Vince Cable
Jo Swinson
Preceded byNick Clegg
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Trade
In office
16 June 2017 – 21 August 2019
LeaderTim Farron
Vince Cable
Jo Swinson
Preceded byNick Clegg
Succeeded byChuka Umunna
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for the Office of First Secretary of State
In office
16 June 2017 – 20 December 2017
LeaderTim Farron
Vince Cable
Preceded byAlistair Carmichael
Succeeded byVacant
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office
29 July 2015 – 16 June 2017
LeaderTim Farron
Preceded byTim Farron
Succeeded byJo Swinson
Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats
In office
29 July 2015 – 16 June 2017
LeaderTim Farron
Preceded byDon Foster
Succeeded byAlistair Carmichael
Liberal Democrat Leader of the House of Commons
In office
7 January 2015 – 16 June 2017
LeaderNick Clegg
Tim Farron
Preceded byDavid Heath (2010)
Succeeded byVacant
Assistant Whip of the House of Commons
In office
4 November 2014 – 8 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byMark Hunter
Succeeded byJulian Smith
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
In office
4 September 2012 – 8 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byDavid Heath
Succeeded byThérèse Coffey
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Transport
In office
16 May 2005 – 8 March 2006
LeaderCharles Kennedy
Menzies Campbell
Preceded byJohn Thurso
Succeeded bySusan Kramer
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Development
In office
12 October 2003 – 16 May 2005
LeaderCharles Kennedy
Preceded byJenny Tonge
Succeeded byAndrew George
Member of Parliament
for Carshalton and Wallington
In office
2 May 1997 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byNigel Forman
Succeeded byElection in progress
Majority1,369
Personal details
Born
Thomas Anthony Brake

(1962-05-06) 6 May 1962 (age 57)
Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England
Political partyLiberal Democrats
Spouse(s)
Candida Goulden (m. 1998)
Children2
EducationImperial College London
WebsiteOfficial website
Commons website

Thomas Anthony Brake (born 6 May 1962) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carshalton and Wallington in London since 1997.

Early life

Brake was born in Melton Mowbray and moved to France when he was eight. He was educated at the Lycée International school in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the western suburbs of 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 the UK Parliament in 1997.

Political career

Early career

Brake was actively involved in human rights issues as a student. He was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Hackney in 1988, leaving the council in 1990. In 1994 Brake was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Sutton and sat on the council until 1998.

Brake stood for election to Parliament at the 1992 general election in Carshalton and Wallington, but was defeated by Conservative Nigel Forman.

Parliamentary career

In what proved to be a close contest, 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. Brake defeated Conservative Ken Andrew in 2001, 2005 and again in 2010 with an increased majority. In 2015 his majority was lessened to 1,510, narrowly ahead of Conservative Matthew Maxwell-Scott.

After the 1997 election, party leader Paddy Ashdown placed Brake on the frontbench 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 later that year became spokesperson for local government. In 2007 Brake became spokesperson for London and the Olympics. In 2008 he was also appointed as a Home Affairs spokesperson.

In June 2010 Brake was named Co-Chair of the new Liberal Democrat Backbench Committee on Home Affairs, Justice and Equalities. Brake will Co-Chair the committee alongside Baroness Hamwee and Lord Thomas of Gresford OBE QC.[1]

In September 2010 Brake attempted to introduce a bill "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."[2]

On 11 June 2011, it was announced Brake would be appointed a Privy Counsellor in the Queen's 2011 Birthday Honours list.[3]

On 4 September 2012 he was appointed Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, replacing Liberal Democrat David Heath MP who was promoted to Minister of State in DEFRA. Before he was appointed Deputy Leader of the House of Commons, Brake was 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.[4]

Between 2014 and 2015, Brake was an Assistant Whip for HM's Treasury. In January 2015, Brake was appointed to the Liberal Democrat General Election Cabinet as the party's Leader of the House of Commons and London spokesperson.

On 29 July 2015, Brake was named as foreign affairs spokesperson and party chief whip.[5]

In June 2017, Brake was appointed as a Liberal Democrat spokesperson for international trade and European affairs.[6]

He is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Biography at TomBrake.co.uk". Archived from the original on 22 October 2010.
  2. ^ "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 07 Sep 2010 (pt 0002)". parliament.uk.
  3. ^ "No. 59808". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2011. p. 1.
  4. ^ All Party Parliamentary Group for World GovernanceOne World Trust Website
  5. ^ BBC News – ' 'BBC News' '
  6. ^ http://www.libdems.org.uk/liberal-democrats-shadow-cabinet
  7. ^ "National Secular Society Honorary Associates". National Secular Society. Retrieved 26 August 2019.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Nigel Forman
Member of Parliament
for Carshalton and Wallington

1997–2019
Succeeded by
Election in progress
Party political offices
Preceded by
Don Foster
Liberal Democrat Chief Whip of the House of Commons
2015–2017
Succeeded by
Alistair Carmichael

This page was last updated at 2019-11-12 12:24 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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