Tom Brake

The Right Honourable Tom Brake
Official portrait, 2017
Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In office 4 November 2014 – 8 May 2015
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	Mark Hunter
Succeeded by	Julian Smith
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
In office 4 September 2012 – 8 May 2015
Prime Minister	David Cameron
Preceded by	David Heath
Succeeded by	Thérèse Coffey
Lib Dem Spokesperson Liberal Democrat Spokesman for the Duchy of Lancaster In office 21 August 2019 – 13 December 2019 Leader Jo Swinson Davey · Brinton Preceded by Office established Succeeded by Office abolished Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Exiting the European Union In office 16 June 2017 – 13 December 2019 Leader Tim Farron Vince Cable Jo Swinson Davey · Brinton Preceded by Nick Clegg Succeeded by Alistair Carmichael Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Trade In office 16 June 2017 – 21 August 2019 Leader Tim Farron Vince Cable Jo Swinson Preceded by Nick Clegg Succeeded by Chuka Umunna Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for the Office of First Secretary of State In office 16 June 2017 – 20 December 2017 Leader Tim Farron Vince Cable Preceded by Alistair Carmichael Succeeded by Sir Ed Davey (2019) (de facto) Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs In office 29 July 2015 – 16 June 2017 Leader Tim Farron Preceded by Tim Farron Succeeded by Jo Swinson Chief Whip of the Liberal Democrats In office 29 July 2015 – 16 June 2017 Leader Tim Farron Preceded by Don Foster Succeeded by Alistair Carmichael Liberal Democrat Leader of the House of Commons In office 7 January 2015 – 16 June 2017 Leader Nick Clegg Tim Farron Preceded by David Heath (2010) Succeeded by Wera Hobhouse (2020) Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Transport In office 16 May 2005 – 8 March 2006 Leader Charles Kennedy Menzies Campbell Preceded by John Thurso Succeeded by Susan Kramer Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Development In office 12 October 2003 – 16 May 2005 Leader Charles Kennedy Preceded by Jenny Tonge Succeeded by Andrew George
Member of Parliament for Carshalton and Wallington
In office 1 May 1997 – 6 November 2019
Preceded by	Nigel Forman
Succeeded by	Elliot Colburn
Personal details
Born	Thomas Anthony Brake (1962-05-06) 6 May 1962 Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England
Political party	Liberal Democrats
Spouse	Candida Goulden ​ (m. 1998)​
Children	2
Education	Imperial College London
Website	Official website Commons website

Thomas Anthony Brake (born 6 May 1962) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carshalton and Wallington in London from 1997 to 2019.

He was appointed Director of the cross party pressure group Unlock Democracy in October 2020.

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 remained MP there until he lost the seat at the 2019 general election. 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 reduced 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 Co-Chaired the committee alongside Baroness Hamwee and Lord Thomas of Gresford OBE QC.

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."

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

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.

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.

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

In an interview with British-American centrist Owen Prell, who was visiting on behalf of Unite America, in Brake's Westminster office in June 2017, Brake greatly attributed the inability of his party to perform better in House of Commons elections to first-past-the-post.

Brake lost his seat in the 2019 general election to Elliot Colburn of the Conservative Party.

Subsequent career

In October 2020, Brake was appointed as the new director of Unlock Democracy, an organisation which campaigns for a more participatory democracy in Britain, founded upon a written constitution. He has said that new rules should be introduced to require MPs to publish employment agreements linked to their political activities, and meanwhile should make the information available on a voluntary basis.

He is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.

External links

• Tom Brake MP official site
• Profile at the Liberal Democrats
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• Contributor page at The Guardian
• Appearances on C-SPAN