Personalities | Posted on August 22nd, 2025 | return to news

Former Lib Dem Dorset MP Dame Annette Brooke dies

Dame Annette Brooke was the first women to be elected as an MP at a general election in Dorset.

Tributes have been paid to Dame Annette Brooke following her death on Wednesday 20 August at the age of 78.

Brooke was the MP for the constituency of Mid-Dorset and North Poole from 2001 to 2015. Her success in 2001 marked the first time a woman was elected as an MP at a general election in Dorset. In 2010, she was voted MP of the year.

Her tenure in Westminster marked her as the longest-serving female Liberal Democrat MP.

Originally a school teacher, and then head of economics at Talbot Heath School for Girls in Dorset, she was also the leader of the Liberal Democrats on Poole City Council, and served as mayor of Poole. She spent 17 years as a Poole councillor, overseeing the council’s move to a unitary authority.

Another former mayor of Poole, Bruce Grant-Braham, paid tribute to Dame Brooke.

He said: “I am so saddened to hear of the far too early passing of Dame Annette Brooke.

“For many years, we opposed and sparred against each other on different sides of Poole’s Council Chamber, but we both recognised our deep-seated appreciation of our respective local resident’s wishes.

“She went on to greater things in Parliament and continued her passionate promotion of both Poole and Dorset. Our local life and democracy is much the poorer without her.”