17 Facts About Gordon Birtwistle

Gordon Birtwistle was born on 6 September 1943 and is a British Liberal Democrat politician and former MP.

Gordon Birtwistle was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Burnley, England, from May 2010 to May 2015.

Gordon Birtwistle was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2010 to 2012.

Gordon Birtwistle studied engineering at Accrington College on one day release and two nights a week and achieved two higher nationals, one in mechanical engineering and one in production engineering.

Gordon Birtwistle stayed there until aged 30, when he became a technical representative for Osborne Mushet Tools in Sheffield, who were manufacturers of metal cutting tools.

Gordon Birtwistle was sold in the mid-1980s, to a large engineering PLC, whom he continued to work for.

Gordon Birtwistle originally entered politics as a Labour Party councillor in the 1970s, representing Great Harwood on Lancashire County Council.

Gordon Birtwistle was Mayor of Burnley from 2002 to 2003.

Gordon Birtwistle was a candidate in the 2014 Liberal Democrats deputy leadership election.

Gordon Birtwistle was the oldest new MP of the 2010 intake, aged 66.

Birtwistle's successor as Burnley Council leader, Charlie Briggs, was reported as saying "Gordon Birtwistle has been an important influence as he been very active in pressing the case for this and a number of other economic development priorities".

In February 2012, Gordon Birtwistle became chairman of a new all-party parliamentary group dedicated to the advancement of apprenticeships.

Gordon Birtwistle said "I have been against it right from the beginning because I believe that's the view of the vast majority of people in Burnley".

In 2014, Gordon Birtwistle called for fellow Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Maajid Nawaz to be de-selected and his party membership cancelled, after he posted a controversial cartoon of Jesus and Muhammad on Twitter.

At the 2015 general election, Gordon Birtwistle lost his seat to Labour's Julie Cooper, who had stood in 2010.

Gordon Birtwistle stood again in 2017, but was unsuccessful, and fell behind the Conservatives, into third place.

Gordon Birtwistle remained in third place, but the Liberal Democrat constituency vote share declined again, falling to its lowest level since the party's formation in 1988.