company law, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate finance transactions. Political career MP for Hornchurch Brokenshire was elected at the 2005 general election to the parliamentary constituency of Hornchurch, defeating the Labour candidate and incumbent member John Cryer by 480 votes. The election itself resulted in a third successive term for Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Labour government. From 2005 to 2006, Brokenshire was a member of the House of Commons Constitutional Affairs Select Committee. From 2006 to 2010 he then served as the Shadow Minister for Crime Reduction. Brokenshire was aware that his constituency, Hornchurch, was to be dissolved for the next election. In November 2006, he applied for selection as the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Witham in Essex, but was defeated by Priti Patel. He simultaneously campaigned to be selected as Conservative candidate for the constituency of Hornchurch and Upminster, but in March 2007 was defeated there by Angela Watkinson. He next applied for Gillingham and Rainham in July 2007, Grantham and Stamford in October 2007, North East Cambridgeshire in January 2008, and Maidstone and The Weald later that same month. He was unsuccessful in all of these attempts. MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup Derek Conway, the member for the Conservative safe seat of Old Bexley and Sidcup in southeast London, was embroiled in an expenses scandal and resigned, after which Brokenshire put his name forward as a potential replacement. His competitors for the seat were Rebecca Harris, Katie Lindsay, and Julia Manning, and he was successful in gaining the selection for the seat in June 2008. He was described as a "serial carpetbagger" by a local single issue party, Independents to Save Queen Mary's Hospital. In the 2010 general election, Brokenshire was elected for Old Bexley and Sidcup with 24,625 votes (53.93%), beating the Labour candidate Rick Everitt, in second place with 8,768 votes (19.21%). Voter turnout was 69.13%. Upon victory, Brokenshire announced that his priority would be to prevent the proposed closure of accident and emergency services at local Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup. Parliamentary Under Secretary for Crime Reduction With no party gaining an overall majority in the House of Commons, the 2010 election resulted in the formation of a coalition government consisting of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, led by Conservative prime minister David Cameron. The new prime minister appointed Brokenshire as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Crime Reduction in the Home Office.