Paul Burstow

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Paul Burstow

Paul Kenneth Burstow (born May 13, 1962), British politician. He is the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Sutton and Cheam.

Paul Burstow was born in Carshalton the son of a tailor, and he was educated at the Glastonbury High School for Boys in Carshalton; Carshalton College of Further Education; and the South Bank Polytechnic, where he obtained a degree in business studies. He started his career as a buying assistant with Allied Shoe Repairs in 1985. He was elected as a councillor to the Sutton Borough Council in 1985, and was its deputy leader 1994–1997, he remained a councillor for the Rosehill Ward in Sutton until 2002, after his election to parliament. Also in 1986 he worked briefly in print sales with KallKwik Printers, before becoming a research assistant at the London Borough of Hounslow in 1987. He contested Sutton and Cheam at the 1992 General Election where he was defeated by the Conservative Lady Olga Maitland but achieved one of the largest swings to the Liberal Democrats in London at that election. In 1988 he joined the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors as a campaigns officer, becoming its political secretary in 1996, where he remained until becoming an MP the following year.

Paul Burstow contested Sutton and Cheam and Lady Olga Maitland again at the 1997 General Election and was duly elected as its Liberal Democrat MP at the same time many other south west London seats were gained by the Liberal Democrats. He was elected with a majority of 2,097, he has remained as the MP for Sutton and Cheam since. He made his maiden speech on May 16, 1997, speaking passionately about the needs of the blind and the disabled people [1]. On his election, Burstow immediately became a spokesman on the Environment under Paddy Ashdown. He became the spokesman on Social Security in 1999 on the election of Charles Kennedy as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats. After the 2001 General Election he became the Health spokesman. He has been the parliamentary ambassador to the NSPCC since 2001. He was promoted to the Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet as the Shadow Secretary of State for Health in 2003. He stepped down from the Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet following the 2005 General Election, but was appointed as the spokesman on London. On March 22, 2006, Liberal Democrats MPs elected him their Chief Whip.[2]

Paul Burstow has a reputation for his work with and for older people. In 2003 The Guardian [3] described Mr Burstow as: "One of the most knowledgeable and effective politicians on older people's issues". He was voted by MPs as older people's champion in the epolitix Charity Champion awards [4] in December 2005.

Paul Burstow introduced the Care of Older and Incapacitated People (Human Rights) Bill in January 2006. It provides proposals to increase the protection of vulnerable adults from abuse and neglect.

He married Mary Everdell Kemm in 1995 and they have a son and two daughters.