Tom Brake spent ten years in France as a child before returning to the UK to study physics. He was elected the MP for Carshalton and Wallington, serving from 1997 to 2019 and was a government minister between 2012 and 2015. He was the Lib Dem Brexit spokesperson between 2017 and 2019. He is now director of Unlock Democracy, a membership organisation which campaigns for democratic reforms in the UK, including proportional representation and House of Lords reform.