He was elected as a councillor for the Social Democratic Party to the Sutton Borough Council in 1986, and was its deputy leader from 1994 to 1997. Burstow remained a councillor for the Rosehill ward in Sutton until 2002, after his election to Parliament. In 1988, he joined the Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors as a campaigns officer; he then became its political secretary in 1996, where he remained until becoming an MP.
Election and parliamentary career
Burstow first contested the Sutton and Cheam Parliamentary seat for the Liberal Democrats at the 1992 General Election. He was defeated by the ConservativeLady Olga Maitland despite achieving one of the largest swings to the Liberal Democrats in London at that election. He contested the seat again in 1997, this time being elected as its Liberal Democrat MP with a majority of 2,097. Burstow joined several other new Liberal Democrat MPs, for the party gained many other south-west London seats at that election. He made his maiden speech on 16 May 1997, speaking passionately about the needs of blind and disabled people. On his election, Burstow immediately became a party 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, Burstow became the Health spokesman for the Liberal Democrats. 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 22 March 2006, Liberal Democrat MPs elected him their Chief Whip. In 2003, The Guardian described 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 in December 2005. Burstow introduced the Care of Older and Incapacitated People Bill in January 2006. It provided proposals to increase the protection of vulnerable adults from abuse and neglect. In 2007, he introduced an Early Day Motion congratulating the National Benevolent Fund for the Aged on its 50th anniversary.
Minister of State
At the 2010 general election Burstow was re-elected MP for Sutton and Cheam with a slim majority of 1,608 votes. He was then appointed Minister of State in the Department of Health in the coalition government. He was responsible for care services and the elderly and mental health. He was responsible for developing the Government's mental health strategy and drafting the care provisions of the Care Act. In December 2010, he said he was "embarrassed" after being secretly taped by The Daily Telegraph saying voters should not trust David Cameron. Burstow told undercover reporters: "I don't want you to trust David Cameron... in the sense that you believe he's suddenly become a cuddly Liberal. Well, he hasn't. He's still a Conservative and he has values that I don't share." He later told the BBC that he regretted the way his remarks had been construed, and that he had "full trust" in David Cameron. Burstow left the government in September 2012, and was replaced as Care Minister by Norman Lamb. Burstow criticised plans to cut hospital services in London. Burstow said that a planned closure of a casualty and maternity unit in south-west London put patient safety at risk and warned that it was likely to lead to "more mothers giving birth in the back of their car".
He married Mary Burstow, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Cheam, in 1995; they have a son and two daughters. His interests include cooking, reading, and walking.
