Gordon Marsden

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.

Early life 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 Marsden first contested the seat of Blackpool South in 1992 and won it in 1997. Once elected to Parliament, he 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.

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

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. 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 Marsden convened the first group of Labour MPs representing seaside and coastal towns. In 2007, Marsden was asked to chair a Manifesto Group for the Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Seaside and Coastal Towns.

Personal life

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