Summary
Gordon Marsden (born 28 November 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for Blackpool South from 1997 to 2019.
Gordon Marsden | |||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2017 | |||||||||||
| Member of Parliament for Blackpool South | |||||||||||
| In office 1 May 1997 – 6 November 2019 | |||||||||||
| Preceded by | Nick Hawkins | ||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Scott Benton | ||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||
| Born | 28 November 1953 Manchester, Lancashire, England | ||||||||||
| Political party | Labour | ||||||||||
| Alma mater | New College, Oxford (BA, MA) Warburg Institute Harvard University | ||||||||||
Early life edit
Marsden was educated at Stockport Grammar School, an independent school in Stockport, Cheshire, followed by New College, Oxford where he was awarded a first-class degree in Modern History. He then went on to postgraduate studies at the Warburg Institute (part of the University of London) and Harvard Kennedy School, being a Kennedy Scholar in Politics and International Relations.
Before entering Parliament he had been a tutor for the Open University since 1994, as well as a public affairs adviser to English Heritage and, for twelve years, the editor of History Today and New Socialist magazine.
Parliamentary career edit
Marsden first contested the seat of Blackpool South in 1992 and won it in 1997. Once elected to Parliament, Gordon served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lord Irvine of Lairg in the Lord Chancellor's Department (2001–03), Tessa Jowell as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (2003–05) and John Denham as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and shadow communities secretary (2009–10).
In 2003, he was made a Visiting Parliamentary Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford.
He sat as a member of the House of Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee and Education and Skills Select Committee, before it was dissolved in 2007.[1]
In May 2010, Marsden was given his first shadow ministerial brief, by acting leader Harriet Harman, as Shadow Minister for Further Education, Skills and Regional Growth.[1][2] He remained in post following Ed Miliband's election as Labour leader, but was appointed as a Shadow Minister for Transport in the October 2013 Labour frontbench reshuffle.[1]
Gordon Marsden was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.[3]
Following Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader in September 2015, Marsden readopted his former Further Education and Skills briefs as Shadow Minister for Higher Education, Further Education and Skills.[1] In his new position, he succeeded Shadow Universities Minister Liam Byrne and Shadow Further Education and Skills Minister Yvonne Fovargue.
He was Chair of the Associate Parliamentary Skills Group and of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Veterans.
Fabian Society edit
Marsden is a member of the Fabian Society, of which he was the Chair from 2000 to 2001.[4] He also served as Chair of the Young Fabians and now serves as a Trustee of Dartmouth Street, the building where the Society is based.
Seaside towns edit
Marsden convened the first group of Labour MPs representing seaside and coastal towns. In 2007 Gordon was asked to chair a Manifesto Group for the Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Seaside and Coastal Towns.
Personal life edit
Marsden is gay.[5] In early 2009, Gordon was named as one of the Daily Telegraph's expenses "saints", due to the low levels of his expenses claims.[6]
References edit
- ^ a b c d "Parliamentary career for Gordon Marsden - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament". members.parliament.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
- ^ "North Durham Labour". www.facebook.com. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
- ^ "Who nominated who for the 2015 Labour leadership election?". www.newstatesman.com. Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
- ^ "Our history | Fabian Society". Retrieved 5 January 2021.
- ^ Kate Watson-Smyth (22 October 2011). "'I'm gay, and I'm happy for my constituents to know about it'". The Independent.
- ^ "Blackpool MP named an expenses 'saint'". www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 May 2009. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
External links edit
- Gordon Marsden MP Homepage
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- BBC Politics page Archived 19 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- Appearances on C-SPAN
Video clips edit
- Gordon Marsden's channel on YouTube