Annette Brooke

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Annette Lesley Brooke (born June 7, 1942) is a British politician. She is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Mid Dorset and North Poole.

Born Annette Kelly, she was educated at Romford County Technical School, the London School of Economics where she received a 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 and then Head of Economics at Talbot Heath School for Girls in Bournemouth when she left in 1994.

Annette Brooke was elected as a councillor on Poole Borough Council in 1986, she was the council's deputy leader 1995-1997 and 1998-2000, the Liberal Democrat Group Leader 2000-2001. 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 June 21, 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.

In May 2005, she met Hollywood actress Natalie Portman to discuss the microfinance charity, Finca, and their joint plans to help the world's poorest people become self-sufficient. She is married with two daughters and is a partner in her family firm selling rocks and minerals.

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