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Charles Alexander James Whelan (born 3 February 1954, north-east Surrey) is former political director of the British trade union
Unite. He rose to prominence as spokesman for
Labour politician
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...
from 1992 to 1999. He has also worked as a presenter on
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Radio.
Early life and career
Whelan's father was a
Conservative-voting civil servant. Between 1968 and 1974, Whelan went to
Ottershaw School, a state boarding school in
Ottershaw
Ottershaw is a village in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. The village developed in the mid-19th century from a number of separate hamlets and became a parish in its own right in 1871.
The ...
, Surrey, which had been established in 1948 by Surrey County Council (SCC) as a boarding school for boys of 12 to 18 years of age. It was the first of its kind in the country to be entirely in the hands of a Local Education Authority.
He studied Politics at the City of London Polytechnic (which became the
London Guildhall University
London Guildhall University was a university in the United Kingdom from 1992 to 2002, established when the City of London Polytechnic was awarded university status. On 1 August 2002, it merged with the University of North London to form Londo ...
in 1992).
In 1980 Whelan became a
foreign exchange dealer. From 1981 to 1992 he was a researcher and assistant to
Jimmy Airlie
Jimmy Airlie (10 November 1936, Renfrew – 10 March 1997, Erskine) was a leading Scottish trade unionist. While a shop steward, along with Sammy Gilmore, Sammy Barr and Jimmy Reid he was particularly remembered for his role as chairm ...
of the
Amalgamated Engineering Union. He was a member of the Communist Party during the 1980s.
Resignation and later career
Whelan resigned as Brown's spokesman in 1999 after leaking information relating to
Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...
's resignation over a home loan. He has since carved out a career in the media, presenting shows for
BBC Radio 5 Live and
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...
. Whelan worked as a political director for
Unite, Britain's biggest trade union.
In April 2009, it was revealed that Whelan was copied in on emails from
Damian McBride which proposed to publish lies about opposition politicians and their families on the internet. The ensuing scandal forced McBride's resignation, followed by personal letters of regret from the Prime Minister to those named. A leading article in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' on 16 April 2009 called on Unite to review its relationship with Whelan as a result.
In popular culture
In
Stephen Frears
Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accola ...
'
made-for-television
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made fo ...
film ''
The Deal'', Charlie Whelan was played by
Dexter Fletcher
Dexter Fletcher (born 31 January 1966) is an English film director and actor. He has appeared in Guy Ritchie's ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'', as well as in television shows such as the comedy drama '' Hotel Babylon'' and the HBO serie ...
.
References
External links
Whelan's articles in The Guardian''Whelan's articles in The New Statesman''*
Ottershaw School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whelan, Charlie
Alumni of London Guildhall University
People from Ottershaw
British special advisers
1954 births
Living people
BBC Radio 5 Live presenters
Trade unionists from Surrey
The Guardian people
British communists
Communist Party of Great Britain members
Labour Party (UK) officials
Ottershaw