Annette Brooke

Infobox MP
honorific-prefix =
name = Annette Brooke
honorific-suffix =MP

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constituency_MP = Mid Dorset and North Poole
parliament =
majority = 5,482 (12.1%)
predecessor = Christopher Fraser
successor = Incumbent
term_start = 7 June 2001
term_end =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1947|06|07|df=yes
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
nationality = British
spouse =Michael Brooke
party = Liberal Democrats
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = London School of Economics
occupation =
profession =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Annette Lesley Brooke (born 7 June 1947) is a British politician. She is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Mid Dorset and North Poole. She is currently a Liberal Democrat spokeswomen for Children, Schools and Families.

Early life

Born Annette Kelly, she was educated at [http://www.romford.org/schools/romford-tech/romford-tech.htm Romford County Technical School] (became the Marshalls Park Upper School in 1973, then the site was knocked down in 2000 for housing, but Marshalls Park School still exists at the site of the former lower school at "Pettits Lane" - the former "Pettits Secondary School") on "Havering Drive" in Romford, the London School of Economics where she received a BSc degree in Economics. She qualified as a teacher at Hughes Hall, Cambridge. She was a tutor with the Open University for 19 years from 1971 and was a school teacher from 1974, including at Aylesbury, and then Head of Economics at the independent Talbot Heath School for Girls in Bournemouth when she left in 1994.

Parliamentary career

Annette Brooke was elected as a councillor on Poole Borough Council in 1986; she was the council's deputy leader 1995-7 and 1998-2000, and the Liberal Democrat Group Leader 2000-1. She was the Mayor of Poole in 1998. She contested the Conservative held seat of Mid Dorset and Poole North at the 2001 General Election. At the previous election the Conservative Christopher Fraser won the seat by just 681 votes. In 2001 the tables were turned and Annette Brooke was elected as the Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and Poole North by just 384 votes and has held the seat since. She made her maiden speech on 21 June 2001.

In Parliament she was made both a Liberal Democrat Whip and a Spokeswoman on Home Affairs by Charles Kennedy in 2001. In 2004 she became a spokeswoman on Children. Following the 2005 General Election (at which Annette Brooke held her seat with a much increased majority of 5,482), she became a spokeswoman on Education and Skills, and carried on in a similar position as spokeswoman on Children, Schools and Families.

Personal life

In May 2005, she met Hollywood actress Natalie Portman to discuss the microfinance charity, FINCA International, and their joint plans to help the world's poorest people become self-sufficient. She is married to Michael (former geology schoolteacher, and [http://boroughofpoole.com/councillors/ref:C466D39864D18D/ councillor] on Poole Borough Council since 2003) with two daughters (born c. 1971 and 1973) and is a partner in her family firm selling rocks and minerals, started in 1987. They live in Broadstone.

References

External links

* [http://www.annettebrooke.org.uk Annette Brooke MP] official site
* [http://www.libdems.org.uk/people/annette-brooke Annette Brooke MP] profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
* [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/person/0,9290,-6789,00.html Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Annette Brooke MP]
* [http://www.facebook.com/p/Annette_Brooke/731995304 Annette Brooke's Facebook Profile]
* [http://www.broadstoneminerals.com Broadstone Minerals - owned jointly with her geologist husband]
* [http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/annette_brooke/mid_dorset_and_north_poole TheyWorkForYou.com - Annette Brooke MP]
* [http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?mpn=Annette_Brooke&mpc=Mid+Dorset+%26amp%3B+North+Poole The Public Whip - Annette Brooke MP] voting record
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/mpdb/html/196.stm BBC News - Annette Brooke] profile 10 February 2005

News items

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/6164444.stm Blandford Camp in November 2006]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/4059323.stm The CSA in December 2004]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2823095.stm Parliamentary procedures in April 2003]