Gordon Marsden



Gordon Marsden (born 28 November 1953) has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackpool South since 1997.

Parliamentary career
Marsden 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 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–).

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.

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

Marsden is a member of the Fabian Society, of which he was chairman in 2000-1. 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.