Bobby Dean is the Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, having first been elected to parliament at the 2024 general election.

In the 2024 general election, Dean won 20,126 votes, representing 43.1% of the vote. The Conservative candidate, Elliot Colburn, received 12,221 votes (26.2%), while the Labour candidate, Hersh Thaker, secured 6,108 votes (13.1%). Dean was duly elected with a majority of 7,905.

The Carshalton and Wallington constituency is located in the London Borough of Sutton in Greater London.

The constituency was created in 1983, replacing the former Carshalton seat. Initially held by the Conservatives, it was won by Tom Brake of the Liberal Democrats in 1997 and became a Conservative-Liberal Democrat marginal seat. The Conservatives held the seat from 2019 until 2024.

Dean’s immediate predecessor as the MP for Carshalton and Wallington was Elliot Colburn of the Conservative Party. Colburn represented the seat from 2019 to 2024.

Political Career

Dean currently serves on the Liberal Democrat frontbench as shadow leader of the house of commons. He was appointed to this role in September 2025.

Dean is a member of the House of Commons Treasury select committee (since October 2024) – the committee tasked with scrutinising His Majesty’s Treasury and government policy on taxation and public spending. The committee’s remit also extends to scrutinising major financial institutions that shape the UK economy, including the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Dean is also a member of the House of Commons modernisation committee (since October 2025). The modernisation committee is a cross-party committee of MPs that considers reforms to House of Commons procedures, standards, and working practices.

Dean is listed as a member of the all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs) for Hong Kong and Tamils.

Dean delivered his maiden speech on 30 July 2024 during a debate on the Budget Responsibility Bill.

In it, he said: “The state of our country’s finances is not just down to one fiscal event. The populism that infected everything that the last government did was laid bare by the chancellor yesterday, and I am so angry about the mess that has been left behind.

“It is always the most vulnerable that suffer the most when the government gets things so drastically wrong, and we must never let such reckless gambles be taken with our country’s finances ever again.”

He added: “I grew up on a council estate as the eldest of three boys. My dad worked long hours as a scaffolder and my mum worked two jobs, one in Burton’s by day and one as a cleaner at night. Things were not always easy, and times got so tough at one point that, as a young teenager, I moved into the care of my grandparents. I have found out in recent years that this is called kinship care.

“It is a pretty formal-sounding name, but it is basically where family agree to take on family. I am very grateful to my Nan and Pops for helping me back on to the right path, and I know that they would have been very proud of me if they had got to see this day.”

Before entering parliament, Dean was elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor on Sutton London Borough Council in 2022. He previously stood for parliament unsuccessfully in the Lewisham Deptford constituency in the 2019 and 2017 general elections, losing both times to Labour’s Vicky Foxcroft.

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.”

Dean has been described as occupying the “radical” wing of the party.

In July 2025, Dean called on his party to embrace “types of fights where there are going to be clear opponents to it.”

He told PoliticsHome in September 2024: “Certainly under Ed Davey I feel like we’ve become a party of the left again and certainly an anti-Conservative force again. We’re much more like the Charles Kennedy-Paddy Ashdown years than the Clegg years.”

Dean is listed as a member 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.

In December 2024, Dean voted in favour of the Elections (Proportional Representation) Bill – introduced by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Olney under the 10-minute rule procedure. The bill sought to “introduce a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections and for local government elections in England”.

A total of 138 MPs supported the bill – with 136 opposed. Notably, 59 Labour MPs backed Olney’s bill.

Introducing the bill, Olney told the House: “First past the post is a broken and unfair system. This summer, the Labour party won a landslide election victory, securing 63% of seats in the House of Commons in return for just 34% of the vote.

“The system leaves millions of voices unheard and creates a divisive, adversarial political climate where collaboration is discouraged and accountability is often sidestepped.”

Brexit and Europe

Dean is pro-European and has expressed strong criticisms of Brexit.

During his 2019 general election campaign, Dean told Ladywell Live: “I am determined to stop Brexit, knowing that it is his generation that will be hit the hardest.”

Customs union vote (2025): In December 2025, Dean voted in favour of the UK-EU Customs Union (Duty to Negotiate) Bill. The bill, introduced under the 10-minute rule procedure by Liberal Democrat Europe spokesperson Al Pinkerton, sought to mandate the government to enter into negotiations with the European Union to establish a bespoke customs union. In total, 13 Labour MPs joined the Liberal Democrats in supporting the motion, while the majority of the party abstained.

Assisted dying

Dean voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at both second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025).

Social values and conscience issues

Dean was one of the six Liberal Democrat MPs who voted against the Tobacco and Vapes Act at its House of Commons third reading. This went against the majority of his party (38 Liberal Democrat MPs voted for the legislation).

Abortion decriminalisation (2025): Dean 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.

Foreign policy and security

IPAC: Dean is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) – an international, cross-party network of legislators from democratic countries focused on relations with the People’s Republic of China. The alliance, established on 4 June 2020, the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, was formed to unite “lawmakers worldwide, promoting democracy and addressing threats to the rules-based and human rights systems posed by the rise of China.”

Palestine

Palestinian recognition letter (July 2025): In July 2025, Dean was among the over 254 MPs to sign a cross-party letter calling for the government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine. The letter called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to recognise Palestine at the UN Conference then taking place in New York.

Before Politics

Dean was raised on a council estate in Essex in the 1990s. His father works as a scaffolder and his mother as a cleaner.

He attended Colchester Sixth Form College before studying international studies and politics at Goldsmiths, University of London. He later graduated with a master’s degree in public policy from University College London in 2022.

Dena founded Speak Change, a communications consultancy advising charities. He was also involved in human rights and democratic development work in Eastern Europe, Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa

Personal Life

Dean lives in Carshalton with his wife Gemma and their dog, Chester.

His maternal grandparents moved from Calcutta to Croydon in the 1960s.

Trivia

Dean stood as a Liberal Democrat candidate in the 2017 and 2019 general elections.