Norman Baker MP

Please Note: For an improved viewing experience all htma videos are streamed in 720p high definition, if you have a slow internet speed that may struggle to stream the increased bit/rate of this footage please turn off hd streaming (button top right) or simply give the video time to buffer.

Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

Norman Baker has been MP for Lewes since 1997 and has established a reputation as one of the most dogged and persistent parliamentary interrogators the modern House of Commons has known.

Born in Aberdeen, Norman moved to Hornchurch in Essex in 1968 and was educated at the Royal Liberty School, Gidea Park, before taking a degree in German (and being elected three times to run one of the college bars) at Royal Holloway College, University of London.

In 1991 he led the Liberal Democrats to victory on Lewes District Council, becoming the council’s first ever Liberal Democrat leader. He contested the Lewes parliamentary constituency in 1992, and at his second attempt in 1997 succeeded in becoming the seat’s first non-Conservative MP since 1874, overturning a Tory majority of over 12,000.

He joined the Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet in October 2002 as Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, and from 2005 until 2006 as Shadow Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Secretary. In 2007 Norman rejoined the Lib Dem Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

In December 2007 he was promoted and appointed Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Transport by the new party leader, Nick Clegg. This has allowed him to continue with his environmental interests by campaigning for better and greener public transport.