Annette Brooke

2025-09-19T11:33:08Z

2A00:23C6:DD12:DA01:C5B:2D36:2EA7:9F3E:

{{Short description|British Liberal Democrat MP (1947–2025)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2025}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = Dame Annette Brooke
| honorific-suffix = [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire|DBE]]
| image = Annette Brooke.jpg
| caption = Brooke at the 2009 Liberal Democrat<br/>Spring Conference
| parliament = United Kingdom
| office = Chair of the [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]] Parliamentary Party
| leader = [[Nick Clegg]]
| term_start = 5 June 2013
| term_end = 30 March 2015 <ref>{{Cite web |title=Parliamentary career for Annette Brooke |url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/1431/career |access-date=2025-09-15 |website=UK Parliament |language=en}}</ref>
| predecessor = [[Paul Burstow]]
| successor = [[Lisa Smart]]
| constituency_MP1 = [[Mid Dorset and North Poole (UK Parliament constituency)|Mid Dorset and North Poole]]
| predecessor1 = [[Christopher Fraser]]
| successor1 = [[Michael Tomlinson]]
| term_start1 = 7 June 2001
| term_end1 = 30 March 2015
| birth_name = Annette Lesley Kelly
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1947|06|07|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Essex]], England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|08|20|1947|06|07|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Poole]], Dorset, England
| nationality = British
| spouse = Michael Brooke
| party = [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]]
| relations =
| children =
| residence = [[Broadstone, Dorset|Broadstone]], Dorset, England
| alma_mater = {{nobr|[[London School of Economics]]}}<br />[[Hughes Hall, Cambridge]]
| occupation =
| profession =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Dame Annette Lesley Brooke''' (''née'' '''Kelley'''; 7 June 1947 – 20 August 2025) was a British [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] politician. She was the [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Mid Dorset and North Poole]] from the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 general election]] to [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015]]. In 2001, she became the first female MP elected in a general election in Dorset. At the time she left office, Brooke was the longest serving female MP in the history of the Liberal Democrats.

As of 2024, she and fellow Liberal Democrats, [[Diana Maddock, Baroness Maddock|Diana Maddock]] and [[Vikki Slade]], and Labour's [[Jessica Toale]], are the only women to date who represented [[parliamentary constituencies in Dorset]].

==Early life==
Brooke was born in [[Essex]] on 7 June 1947.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dame Annette Brooke obituary: Liberal Democrat MP |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/dame-annette-brooke-obituary-liberal-democrat-mp-bzcj5l2rx |access-date=1 September 2025 |publisher=The Times |date=1 September 2025}}</ref> She was educated at Romford County Technical School in [[Romford]] and the [[London School of Economics]], graduating with 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]], which she left in 1994.

==Parliamentary career==
Brooke was elected as a councillor on [[Poole]] Borough Council in 1986; she was the council's deputy leader 1995{{nbnd}}97 and 1998{{nbnd}}2000, and the Liberal Democrat Group Leader 2000{{nbnd}}01. She was the Mayor of Poole in 1998. She contested the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]-held seat of Mid Dorset and North Poole at the [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001 General Election]].

At the [[1997 United Kingdom general election|previous election]] the Conservative [[Christopher Fraser]] won the seat by 681 votes. In 2001, Brooke was elected by 384 votes and held the seat until 2015 where it was regained by the Conservatives. She made her [[maiden speech]] on 21 June 2001.

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

In the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 General Election]], Brooke's majority fell to 269 votes; a reduction of 5,213 votes. Her main challenger for the seat, Nick King (Conservative), secured a swing of 7.7% making her constituency one of the most marginal of the 2010 Election. Following the defeat of [[Sandra Gidley]] in the [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010 General Election]], Brooke became the longest-serving female Liberal Democrat MP of the 55th parliament.

Brooke announced in 2013 that she would stand down as a Member of Parliament at the next general election in 2015.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-21715906|title=MP Annette Brooke to stand down at the next election|newspaper=BBC News|accessdate=11 February 2016|date=8 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925231028/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-21715906|archive-date=25 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==
In May 2005, Brooke 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 was married to Michael (a former geology schoolteacher and former Councillor on Poole Borough Council) with two daughters and was a partner in her family's firm selling rocks and mineral, which started up in 1987. They lived in [[Broadstone, Dorset|Broadstone]].

Brooke died on 20 August 2025, aged 78.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McLaughlin |first1=Richard |title=Dame Annette Brooke, former Lib Dem Dorset MP, dies aged 78 |url=https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/districts/northdorset/25408710.dame-annette-brooke-former-lib-dem-dorset-mp-dies-aged-78/ |access-date=21 August 2025 |publisher=Bournemouth Echo |date=21 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=21 August 2025 |title=Former MP Dame Annette Brooke dies |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg30de4y40o |access-date=22 August 2025 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Honours==
Brooke was appointed [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in the [[2013 New Year Honours]] for public and political service.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=60367|date=29 December 2012|page=9|supp=y}}</ref> She was elevated to a [[Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (DBE) in the [[2015 Dissolution Honours]] Lists on 27 August 2015.<ref>[https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dissolution-honours-2015 Dissolution Honours 2015] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150829142947/https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dissolution-honours-2015 |date=29 August 2015 }}, gov.uk; accessed 11 February 2016.</ref> She was appointed to the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] on 16 July 2014.<ref name="16Jul14">{{cite web|url=http://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/orders-approved-at-privy-council-16-july-2014.pdf|publisher=Privy Council Office|title=Orders for 16 July 2014|access-date=19 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025112449/https://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/orders-approved-at-privy-council-16-july-2014.pdf|archive-date=25 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050410153609/http://annettebrooke.org.uk/ Annette Brooke MP] official site
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080929092231/http://www.libdems.org.uk/people/annette-brooke Annette Brooke MP] profile at the site of Liberal Democrats
{{UK MP links | parliament = annette-brooke/1431 | hansard = ms-annette-brooke | hansardcurr = 2316 | guardian = 6789/annette-brooke | publicwhip = Annette_Brooke | theywork = annettte_brooke | record = Annette-Brooke/Mid-Dorset-and-North-Poole/1078 | bbc = 25778.stm | journalisted = }}
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/mpdb/html/196.stm Profile: Annette Brooke]{{Dead link|date=June 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at ''[[BBC News]]'', 10 February 2005
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20001026083924/http://www.broadstoneminerals.com/ Broadstone Minerals]}} owned jointly with her geologist husband

;News articles
* [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.stmParliamentary procedures in April 2003]{{Dead link|date=June 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Christopher Fraser]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Mid Dorset and North Poole]]|years=[[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001]]–[[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Michael Tomlinson]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooke, Annette}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:2025 deaths]]
[[Category:Academics of the Open University]]
[[Category:Alumni of Hughes Hall, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors]]
[[Category:Councillors in Dorset]]
[[Category:Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Dorset]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Broadstone, Dorset]]
[[Category:Politics of Dorset]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2001–2005]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2005–2010]]
[[Category:UK MPs 2010–2015]]
[[Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:21st-century British women politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century English women]]
[[Category:21st-century English politicians]]
[[Category:Women councillors in England]]

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Annette Brooke