Dr Al Pinkerton is the Liberal Democrat MP for Surrey Heath, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Pinkerton won 21,387 votes, representing 44.8% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Ed McGuinness, received 15,747 votes (33.0%), while the Reform UK candidate, Samantha Goggin, secured 6,252 votes (13.1%). Pinkerton was duly elected with a majority of 5,640.

The Surrey Heath constituency is located in Surrey, in the South East of England. It was held by the Conservative Party from 1997 to 2024, including by former cabinet minister Michael Gove (2002-2024).

Political Career

Pinkerton currently serves on the Liberal Democrat frontbench as Europe spokesperson. He was appointed to this role in September 2025. Earlier in the parliament, he served as Northern Ireland spokesperson from September 2024 to September 2025.

In December 2025, Pinkerton introduced the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill as a private member’s bill (PMB) under the 10-minute rule procedure. It sought to mandate the government to enter into negotiations with the European Union to establish a bespoke customs union.

In his speech, Pinkerton argued that Brexit had been an “abject economic failure”.

He told the House: “It has choked business investment, shattered economic resilience, strangled trade, shrunk the economy and left every single one of us poorer.

“The economic benefits of Brexit were only ever illusory and a mirage – the kind of shimmering promise you see in the desert in the midday heat that lures you towards it, only to find it always agonisingly out of reach; a promise that dissipates altogether as the cool of the evening returns…

“Today the House has a clear choice: we can remain on a path of managed decline, or we can choose a future built on growth, confidence and opportunity. We can unleash once again the resilience, creativity and innovation of British business.”

Pinkerton’s motion was opposed by Conservative MP Simon Hoare and ultimately went to a vote. In the event, the division resulted in a 100-100 tied vote – the first commons tie since April 2019. In total, 13 Labour MPs joined the Liberal Democrats in supporting the motion, while the majority of the party abstained. Caroline Nokes, the deputy speaker, ultimately casted the deciding vote in favour of Pinkerton’s motion. She did so according to precedent to ensure further debate.

Pinkerton has sat as a member of the House of Commons Northern Ireland affairs committee (2024-2025).

Pinkerton is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for the Falkland Islands, gaps in Covid-19 financial support, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man (Manx).

Pinkerton delivered his maiden speech on 24 July 2024 during a debate on education and opportunity.

In it, he said: “I welcome and will support any initiative put before the House that will raise educational standards and drive opportunity. Education, after all, is the engine of social mobility and our country’s future economic prosperity.”

He added: “Personally, I am hugely indebted to the people of Surrey Heath for electing me to be the first non-Conservative MP for our constituency in 118 years. This was a vote to be taken seriously again – one for a local MP who will work in this place to further the cause of a great community…

“In the spirit that there is always more that unites us than divides us, I look forward to working with Members across the House to achieve those things for Surrey Heath and in support of communities across the UK.”

Pinkerton previously stood unsuccessfully as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Surrey Heath in the 2019 general election.

Political Views

The Liberal Democrats (or Lib Dems) are a liberal political party, occupying the centre to centre-left ground in British politics.

The preamble to the Lib Dem constitution begins: “The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community, and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.”

The Liberal Democrat autumn conference in 2021 ratified a policy paper entitled What Liberal Democrats Believe. The paper, an attempt to expand on the constitution’s preamble, was framed around seven “principles and values”.

The party’s core values were described as “liberty, equality, democracy, community, internationalism and environmentalism.”

Pinkerton is listed as a supporter of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for fair elections – a cross-party group of MPs and peers that campaigns for electoral reform. The group’s stated aims include replacing the first past the post (FPTP) voting system with a form of proportional representation, eliminating “dark money” and “undemocratic influence” from politics, and countering disinformation.

Assisted dying

Pinkerton voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at second reading (November 2024). However, he went on to vote against the bill at third reading (June 2025).

Pinkerton was one of 15 Liberal Democrats to vote against the assisted dying bill at third reading, and one of 14 MPs to oppose the bill at third reading having supported it at second reading.

Social values and conscience issues

Pinkerton was one of the 38 Liberal Democrat MPs who voted for the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 at its House of Commons third reading.

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Pinkerton voted in favour of a backbench amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that sought to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales in June 2025. The amendment, which was passed by a majority of 242 votes, removed women from the threat of prosecution for ending a pregnancy at any stage. As an issue of conscience, MPs were allowed to vote according to their personal beliefs.

Before Politics

Alasdair Douglas Pinkerton was born and grew up in Scotland.

Pinkerton studied geography at the University of St Andrews, graduating in 2001. He went on to obtain a master’s degree (2002) and a PhD (2007) from Royal Holloway, the University of London.

Pinkerton taught geography and geopolitics at Royal Holloway for over 15 years.

He has authored dozens of research papers on international diplomacy and conflict, co-authored the Handbook on Displacement (2020), and was the author of Radio: making waves in sound (2019)

Personal Life

Pinkerton is married. He has two children.

In his 2024 maiden speech, he told the House: “In closing, I express my love and thanks to my wife, Philippa, and to my children, Jamie and Will, for putting up with me, for their limitless support, and for being the best team anyone could ever hope to be part of.”

Pinkerton lives in his Surrey Heath constituency.

Trivia

Pinkerton was an accredited observer of the 2013 Falkland Islands sovereignty referendum.