Annette Brooke
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Annette Brooke MP
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Member of Parliament
for Mid Dorset and North Poole |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 7 June 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Christopher Fraser |
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| Majority | 5,482 (12.1%) |
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| Born | 7 June 1947 |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal Democrats |
| Spouse | Michael Brooke |
| Alma mater | London School of Economics |
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.
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[edit] Early life
Born Annette Kelly, she was educated at 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.
[edit] 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.
According to Parliamentary Records, Mrs Brooke has claimed a total of £659,299 in Parliamentary expenses since becoming an MP, ranking her in the bottom 50% of all MPs since election.
[edit] 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 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.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by Christopher Fraser |
Member of Parliament for Dorset Mid and Poole North 2001 – present |
Incumbent |
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Annette Brooke MP official site
- Annette Brooke MP profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Annette Brooke MP
- Annette Brooke's Facebook Profile
- Broadstone Minerals - owned jointly with her geologist husband
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Annette Brooke MP
- The Public Whip - Annette Brooke MP voting record
- BBC News - Annette Brooke profile 10 February 2005
