He was elected as a councillor for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to the Sutton Borough Council in 1986, and was its deputy leader 1994-7, he 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, becoming its political secretary in 1996, where he remained until becoming an MP.