Brooke was elected as a councillor on
Poole Borough Council in 1986; she was the council's deputy leader 199597 and 19982000, and the Liberal Democrat Group Leader 200001. She was the Mayor of Poole in 1998. She contested the
Conservative-held seat of Mid Dorset and North Poole at the
2001 General Election. At the
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 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, and carried on in a similar position as spokeswoman on
Children, Schools and Families. In the
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 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. ==Personal life and death==