Norman Baker

Norman John Baker (born 26 July 1957) is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewes in East Sussex from the 1997 general election until his defeat in 2015.

In May 2010 he was appointed as Parliamentary under-secretary of state in the Department for Transport. On 7 October 2013, Baker was promoted to Minister of State at the Home Office in the coalition government of 2010–15. He resigned from his role at the Home Office on 3 November 2014.

Baker was born in Aberdeen, but his family moved to Hornchurch in east London in 1968. He was educated at the Royal Liberty School in Gidea Park, near Romford, and at Royal Holloway College, University of London, graduating in 1978 with a BA degree in German & History.

Baker joined the Liberal Party in 1981 while living in Islington and in his memoir he described himself as a 'sleeping' party member save for one canvassing session in six years. In 1985 he joined the then Ecology Party before seeking his first council seat in Ouse Valley ward of Lewes District Council in 1987. Two years later in 1989 Baker was also elected to the local county council of East Sussex. He became the Leader of Lewes District Council in 1991, a position he held until his election as an MP in 1997.

Outside of politics Baker was a regional director for Our Price Records for five years from 1978. He worked at Malling Street Service Station, Lewes, from 1983 to 1985. He taught English as a foreign language from 1985 to 1997, with a spell as a Liberal Democrat environment researcher in the House of Commons in 1989 to 1990.

Baker contested Lewes at the 1992 general election, but the sitting Conservative Party MP Tim Rathbone retained the seat. He stood again at the 1997 election, and this time gained the seat with a majority of 1,300 votes over Rathbone, becoming Lewes's first non-Conservative MP since 1874.

Baker prided himself on "uncovering scandals and conflicts of interest among MPs and the government". His consistent questioning of Peter Mandelson may have helped lead to Mandelson's second resignation from government. He also raised issues about Lord Birt and his role as Tony Blair's adviser. After compiling figures in 2002, which revealed that the government's fleet of ministerial cars had grown to its largest ever size, he began in January 2005 to campaign to force disclosure of the details of MPs' expenses under the Freedom of Information Act, finally succeeding in February 2007. His success enabled The Daily Telegraph to publish details of his own expense claims, which included £3,000 for office rental.

In October 2001 he won a test case in the High Court, when the National Security Appeals panel ruled that the Data Protection Act required the security service MI5 to allow him access to information which he believed the security service holds on him, the first time this had happened in the 92-year history of MI5. In 2001 he was named "Inquisitor of the Year" in The Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards, and in February 2002 he won the Channel 4 Opposition MP of the Year Award.