Gordon Marsden MP
Member of Parliament for Blackpool South
Incumbent
Assumed office  1 May 1997
Preceded by	Nick Hawkins
Majority	7,922 (20.7%)
Born	28 November 1953 (1953-11-28) (age 56) Manchester
Nationality	English
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	New College, Oxford, Warburg Institute

Gordon Marsden (born 28 November 1953, Manchester) is a British Labour Party politician and, since 1997, the Member of Parliament for Blackpool South.

[edit] Early life

Educated at the independent Stockport Grammar School, he went to New College, Oxford, where he got 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 University's Kennedy School of Government, 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.

[edit] Parliamentary career

He 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 Baron Irvine of Lairg in the Lord Chancellor's Department (2001-3) and most recently to Tessa Jowell as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (2003-5).

In 2003, he was made a Visiting Parliamentary Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford.

Gordon is a member of the House of Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee and previously served on the Education and Skills Select Committee before it was dissolved in 2007.

He is Chair of the Associate Parliamentary Skills Group and of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Veterans.

[edit] Fabian Society

Gordon is a member of the Fabian Society, of which he was chairman in 2000-1. He also served a Chair of the Young Fabians and now serves as a Trustee of Dartmouth Street, the building where the Society is based.

[edit] Seaside towns

Gordon 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.

[edit] Personal life

Gordon is gay and lives with his partner.^[1][2]

Earlier this year Gordon was named as one of the Daily Telegraph's expenses "saints", due to the low levels of his expenses claims. ^[3] However his main home is in Brighton and his Blackpool constituency home is his designated second home explaining why he has low additional cost allowance claims. ^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Gordon Marsden MP Homepage
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Gordon Marsden MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Gordon Marsden MP
• BBC Politics page

[edit] Video clips

• His YouTube page