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Tom Brake – Shadow Home Affairs Minister; Shadow Minister of London and the Olympics

Shadow Home Affairs Minister; Shadow Minister of London and the Olympics
MP for Carshalton & Wallington
Liberal Democrat candidate for Carshalton & Wallington

About Me

Marital Status:	Married, one daughter and one son
Education:	Lycee International, France, Imperial College, London University

Biography

Tom Brake is a spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats on Home Affairs, spokesman for London and the Olympics, and a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee.

Tom was born in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, but from the age of eight lived with his family in France where he was educated at the Lycee International School in Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris. He returned to England to take a BSc in Physics at Imperial College, London. As a student Tom joined Amnesty International and was chairman of the Imperial College students' group from 1981 to 1982. After leaving university in 1983 he joined Hoskyns (later Cap Gemini) as a trainee computer programmer and worked his way up to become a principal information technology consultant.

He joined the Liberal Party in 1983 when he helped the Alliance candidate's General Election campaign in the North Kensington constituency. In 1988 he was elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor in the London Borough of Hackney, where he was the council's joint lead member on Environment, but left the council in 1990 when he moved to Carshalton, Surrey.

He stood for Parliament at the 1992 General Election in Carshalton and Wallington, reducing the Tory MP's majority by nearly 4,500 votes, and was elected as a councillor in the London Borough of Sutton in 1994. At the 1997 General Election he succeeded in winning election as the Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, overturning a majority of nearly 10,000 to win by 2,267.

He was appointed by Paddy Ashdown as a parliamentary spokesman on the Environment, Transport and the Regions in 1999. He joined the Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet in 2003 as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development spokesman and after the 2005 General Election became Shadow Transport spokesman.

He left the Shadow Cabinet after the election of Sir Menzies Campbell as party leader in March 2006 but became Shadow Minister for Local Government and Community Cohesion. In 2007 Tom became Shadow Minister for London and the Olympics. Tom currently serves as Shadow Minister for Home Affairs under Nick Clegg. Tom is also Lib Dem Governor on the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

Tom speaks fluent French, and some Portuguese and Russian. He and his wife Candida have two children, and Tom keeps fit by running and cycling.

Experience

Principal Consultant (Information Technology) for Cap Gemini

Parliamentary Experience

2008- Home Affairs Spokesperson; 2007- Shadow Minister for London and the Olympics; Shadow Minister for Local Government; 2006- London spokesperson; 2005-06 Shadow Secretary of State for Transport; 2003-05 Shadow Secretary of State for Int. Development.