12 Facts About Gordon Marsden

Gordon Marsden was born on 28 November 1953 and is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament for Blackpool South from 1997 to 2019.

Gordon Marsden then went on to postgraduate studies at the Warburg Institute and Harvard Kennedy School, being a Kennedy Scholar in Politics and International Relations.

Gordon Marsden first contested the seat of Blackpool South in 1992 and won it in 1997.

Gordon Marsden sat as a member of the House of Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee and Education and Skills Select Committee, until it was dissolved in 2007.

In May 2010, Gordon Marsden was given his first shadow ministerial brief, by acting leader Harriet Harman, as Shadow Minister for Further Education, Skills and Regional Growth.

Gordon Marsden 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.

Gordon Marsden was one of 36 Labour MPs to nominate Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015.

Gordon Marsden was Chair of the Associate Parliamentary Skills Group and of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Veterans.

Gordon Marsden is a member of the Fabian Society, of which he was the Chair from 2000 to 2001.

Gordon Marsden served as Chair of the Young Fabians and now serves as a Trustee of Dartmouth Street, the building where the Society is based.

Gordon Marsden convened the first group of Labour MPs representing seaside and coastal towns.

In early 2009, Gordon Marsden was named as one of the Daily Telegraph's expenses "saints", due to the low levels of his expenses claims.