39 Facts About Paul Marsden

Paul William Barry Marsden was born on 18 March 1968 and is a British writer, businessman and former politician.

Paul Marsden was the Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury and Atcham from 1997 until 2005.

Paul Marsden was most prominently known for his anti-war views and crossing the floor twice, from Labour to the Liberal Democrats in 2001 and returning to Labour in 2005.

Paul Marsden instructed a solicitor in 2010 to begin action for phone hacking that allegedly took place back in 2003 by a newspaper.

In 2012, Marsden was appointed to draft the parliamentary inquiry report into VIP security at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

Paul Marsden is currently Head of Quality for the Transpennine Route Upgrade West rail alliance, improving the railway between Manchester and Leeds.

Paul Marsden was born in Frodsham in Cheshire to Thomas Darlington Paul Marsden, a distribution manager and Labour councillor and Audrey Stott, a school teacher.

Paul Marsden completed a diploma in building studies at Mid-Cheshire College in 1986, but withdrew from completing a civil engineering degree after the first three years at Teesside Polytechnic in 1990.

Paul Marsden spoke in the Commons for the first time on 21 May 1997 and in an otherwise traditional maiden speech, joked prophetically about refusing to be intimidated by the Whips.

Paul Marsden was nominated to serve on the Agriculture Select Committee and remained for four years quietly serving on the committee.

On 14 April 1999, Paul Marsden introduced the Cancer Care Bill with backing from cancer charities including Macmillan Cancer Support, under the Ten Minute Rule that would create the first comprehensive directory of cancer services in the UK to aid patients in identifying the location and type of cancer care available.

Paul Marsden took to sitting in Tony Benn's former Commons seat below the gangway on the second row from the back.

Two weeks later, Paul Marsden was instructed to attend a meeting with the Labour Chief Whip, Hilary Armstrong.

Apparently Paul Marsden had three-quarters-of-an-hour being bullied by the Chief Whip, Hilary Armstrong.

In November 2001, Paul Marsden visited Pakistan and the Afghan border to highlight the plight of Afghan refugees living in camps who had fled the war.

Paul Marsden negotiated the release of Sunday Telegraph journalist Christina Lamb and photographer Justin Sutcliffe, who had been arrested and held by the Pakistan Police and Inter-Services Intelligence secret service.

On 18 November 2001, Paul Marsden was one of the leaders of the Stop the War demonstration against the war in Afghanistan in London.

Paul Marsden was one of the principal speakers along with Tony Benn and George Galloway in Trafalgar Square with 100,000 protesters.

In May 2002, Paul Marsden was promoted to junior Health spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats reporting to Evan Harris, in charge of a portfolio covering mental health, prison health and aspects of cancer care.

In June 2002, Paul Marsden presented the Prescriptions Bill, which aimed to introduce a fairer system for issuing prescriptions' exemptions for patients with acute conditions.

Paul Marsden strongly opposed the war in Iraq and repeatedly voted for an inquiry into the alleged intelligence failings and concerns that parliament was misled.

Paul Marsden was declared the leading rebel on all parliamentary votes by The Times in 2003.

In October 2003, Paul Marsden was appointed the number two behind John Thurso as Transport spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats and nominated as a member of the Transport Select Committee.

On 26 August 2004, Paul Marsden became one of only twenty cross party MPs to back the Impeach Blair campaign with the aim of holding Blair to account over the highly controversial war in Iraq.

In July 2004 Paul Marsden announced that he was retiring from politics and would not contest the May 2005 general election.

Paul Marsden cited the toll suffered as a result of admissions about his private life and the effects on his family.

Paul Marsden reduced his Liberal Democrat political duties and on 5 April 2005, within hours of the start of the election campaign, Marsden announced his intention to rejoin the Labour Party, stating that although he still disagreed with the government over the war and levels of investment in public services, he did not want Labour MPs, who shared his views, to lose their seats.

Paul Marsden later apologised to Liberal Democrat supporters for leaving the party.

Paul Marsden was the first British politician since Winston Churchill to re-cross the floor of the House of Commons and return to his original party, in Marsden's case to sit on the Labour benches.

In December 2005, Paul Marsden caused a row when he publicly confirmed Charles Kennedy's drinking problems and that Kennedy had not been telling the truth about his illness.

In 2007, Paul Marsden was appointed Director of Policy at the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection and between 2008 and 2010 was the CEO of the Painting and Decorating Association.

In May 2009, Paul Marsden applied to rejoin the Labour Party but was provisionally blocked by the National Executive and is not presently a member of any political party.

In 2010, Paul Marsden returned to business consultancy, working as a consultant for a trade conference.

In January 2011, it was reported that Paul Marsden had commenced legal enquiries into allegations of hacking into his phone back in 2003.

Paul Marsden's Blog was written before John Hemming revealed the Manchester United player's name under parliamentary privilege.

In 2019 Paul Marsden joined BAM Nuttall and the TransPennine Route Upgrade Alliance as Head of Quality.

In July 2012, Paul Marsden was appointed as a consultant to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Specialist Security and was employed to draft the inquiry report on VIP Security at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London.

Paul Marsden researched and addressed the views of famous writers of the 19th century on Britain and France in his 650 page book, Entente Cordiale of 20 Great Writers in the 19th Century.

Paul Marsden published a scathing letter in The Guardian about the reduction in pensioners eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment, accusing Keir Starmer's Labour Party of replicating Blair's 'New Jerusalem' Labour with disability cuts in 1997.