Paul Marsden
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Paul William Barry Marsden (born 18 March 1968) is a British writer, businessman and former politician. He was the
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for
Shrewsbury and Atcham Shrewsbury and Atcham was a local government district with borough status in Shropshire, England, between 1974 and 2009. Shrewsbury was the only town in the borough; Atcham, although itself only a village, was included in the name as a reflect ...
from 1997 until 2005. He was most prominently known for his anti-war views and
crossing the floor In parliamentary systems, politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a different political party than which they were initially elected under (as is the case in Canada and the United Kingdom). ...
twice (the first to do so since
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
), from
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
to the Liberal Democrats in 2001 and returning to Labour in 2005. He 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. Currently Marsden is Head of Business Intelligence at the construction company MWH Global.


Early life

Marsden was born in
Frodsham Frodsham is a market town, civil parish, and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Its population was 8,982 in 2001, increasing to 9,077 at the 2011 Census. It is s ...
in Cheshire to Thomas Darlington Marsden, a distribution manager and Labour councillor and Audrey Stott, a school teacher. He was educated at Helsby High School. 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 , mottoeng = Deeds Not Words , established = 1930 – Constantine Technical College1969 – as Teesside Polytechnic 1992 – gained university status , type = Public , endowment = £0.23 m (2019/20) , chancellor ...
in 1990. Studying part-time, he passed a diploma in management at the
Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
and a diploma in business excellence at
Newcastle College Newcastle College is a large further education and higher education college in Newcastle upon Tyne, with more than 16,000 students enrolled each year on a variety of full time, part time, and distance learning. It is the largest further education ...
. Before his political career, Marsden worked as a quality manager at
Taylor Woodrow Taylor Woodrow was one of the largest housebuilding and general construction companies in Britain. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until its merger with rival George Wimpey to create Ta ...
(1990–1994), a management consultant at NatWest Bank (1994–1996) and as a total quality facilitator at
Mitel Mitel Networks Corporation is a Canadian telecommunications company. The company previously produced TDM PBX systems and applications, but after a change in ownership in 2001, now focuses almost entirely on Voice-over-IP (VoIP) products. Mitel ...
from 1996 until the general election in 1997.


Labour Member of Parliament

Marsden was elected as the first (and thus far only) Labour MP for
Shrewsbury and Atcham Shrewsbury and Atcham was a local government district with borough status in Shropshire, England, between 1974 and 2009. Shrewsbury was the only town in the borough; Atcham, although itself only a village, was included in the name as a reflect ...
at the 1997 general election with a swing of 11.4%; a seat which he held at the 2001 election with a further swing of 5.5%. At 29 years of age, he was one of the youngest MPs elected in 1997. He 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. He was nominated to serve on the Agriculture Select Committee and remained for four years quietly serving on the committee. On 14 April 1999, 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. The Bill prompted Ruth Fermor Allan to create such a directory called ''Cancer Care 2000'', which was published by Cambridge Healthcare Publishing Ltd in November 2000. In March 2001, Marsden with cross party support put forward a Doorstep Recycling Bill, mandating the collection of recyclable materials from streets. The Bill was backed by Friends of the Earth. The Bill did not succeed that year but the Government eventually backed a similar Bill by
Joan Ruddock Dame Joan Mary Ruddock, (née Anthony; born 28 December 1943) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Lewisham Deptford from 1987 to 2015. Ruddock was Minister of State for Energy at the Departmen ...
and the Municipal Waste Recycling Bill was passed in October 2003, increasing the levels of recycling of residential waste. After a first term loyally supporting the Government, Marsden began to question the Labour Government's foreign policy following 9/11. On 8 October 2001, he was the first MP in the Commons to publicly call for a vote on any
military action War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
in Afghanistan. Marsden took to sitting in
Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...
's former Commons seat below the gangway on the second row from the back. Two weeks later, Marsden was instructed to attend a meeting with the Labour Chief Whip,
Hilary Armstrong Hilary Jane Armstrong, Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top, DL (born 30 November 1945) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North West Durham from 1987 to 2010. Early life Armstrong was born on 30 Nove ...
. As
Jeremy Paxman Jeremy Dickson Paxman (born 11 May 1950) is an English broadcaster, journalist, author, and television presenter. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate new ...
wrote, "the Labour MP Paul Marsden took the unprecedented step of recording the dressing-down", where he said that he had been confronted with accusations that "those aren't with us are against us," "war is not a matter of conscience" and "it was people like you who appeased Hitler in 1938", infuriating Marsden to going public.
Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...
described in his diary that "The pressure on the anti-war MPs is growing. Apparently Paul Marsden had three-quarters-of-an-hour being bullied by the Chief Whip, Hilary Armstrong." Number 10 were forced to put out a statement that dissenting backbenchers would be allowed to speak out on the war. ''The Guardian'' in its Leader praised Marsden for having called for a vote on the war and publishing the Chief Whip's response to it and stated, "On both counts he has done British democracy a service." Undeterred by the Whip's criticism, Marsden then spoke out against the press officer Jo Moore who had said, that 9/11 was "a very good day to get out anything we want to bury"; he and
Tam Dalyell Sir Thomas Dalyell, 11th Baronet, , ( ; 9 August 1932 – 26 January 2017), known as Tam Dalyell, was a Scottish Labour Party politician who was a member of the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005. He represented West Lothian from 1962 to 198 ...
were the only two Labour MPs to vote against the Government. In November 2001, Marsden visited
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
and the Afghan border to highlight the plight of Afghan refugees living in camps who had fled the war. Marsden also 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 The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI; ur, , bayn khadamatiy mukhabarati) is the premier intelligence agency of Pakistan. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant ...
secret service. Christina Lamb thanked Marsden in the acknowledgements of her biographical book, ''The Sewing Circles of Herat'', "Paul Marsden MP for Shrewsbury, helped rescue us from the ISI, being manhandled by Baluchistan police in the process, and kindly rearranged his whole schedule to stay in Pakistan until we were safely out." On 18 November 2001, Marsden was one of the leaders of the Stop the War demonstration against the war in Afghanistan in London. Marsden was one of the principal speakers along with
Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...
and George Galloway in
Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...
with 100,000 protesters. He accused Blair of being "drunk with power" and "we are not simply going to allow the atrocities of September 11 to be replaced with further atrocities in Afghanistan". Marsden complained bitterly that he had been subjected to late night physical attacks by some Labour Whips, which were vigorously denied. Five days later, he
defected In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...
to the Liberal Democrats on 10 December 2001, citing his disagreements with Labour whips over his opposition to military action in Afghanistan and the resulting civilian casualties. The ''
Big Issue ''The Big Issue'' is a street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer homeless people, or individ ...
'' magazine's readers voted Marsden 'Hero of the Year' in 2001 for his opposition to the war in Afghanistan.


Liberal Democrat MP and spokesperson

In May 2002, Marsden was promoted to junior Health spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats reporting to
Evan Harris Evan Leslie Harris (born 21 October 1965) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford West and Abingdon from 1997 to 2010, losing his seat in the 2010 general election by 176 votes to Conservative ...
, in charge of a portfolio covering mental health, prison health and aspects of cancer care. In June 2002, Marsden presented the Prescriptions (Chronic Diseases) Bill, which aimed to introduce a fairer system for issuing prescriptions' exemptions for patients with acute conditions. Although the Bill received cross party support it ran out of parliamentary time before the summer recess. The Bill received backing from the
Cystic Fibrosis Trust The Cystic Fibrosis Trust (stylised as Cystic Fibros''is''), is a UK-based national charity founded in 1964, dealing with all aspects of cystic fibrosis (CF). It funds research to treat and cure CF and aims to ensure appropriate clinical care and ...
and the National Asthma Campaign. In August 2002 he visited
Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeas ...
to turn the media spotlight on the southern African famine and later he travelled to
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
to lobby the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
conference discussing the famine affecting Southern Africa. His accusations that the failures of the
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...
had exacerbated the famine caused a public argument with the IMF Director. In February 2003, prior to the
Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...
, he visited the
USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
to give a speaking tour opposing the impending war and laid a Union flag and wreath in commemoration of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks at Ground Zero. He also attended the
United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
session considering the looming war on 14 February. Marsden strongly opposed the war in Iraq and repeatedly voted for an inquiry into the alleged intelligence failings and concerns that parliament was misled. On the second anniversary of 9/11, he visited the
Slobodan Milosevic Slobodan ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан) is a Serbo-Croatian masculine given name which means "free" (''sloboda'' / meaning "freedom, liberty") used among other South Slavs as well. It was coined by Serbian liberal politician Vladimir Jovanović ...
trial in The Hague and met with prosecution lawyers at the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...
. Marsden was declared the leading rebel on all parliamentary votes by ''The Times'' in 2003. In October 2003, Marsden was appointed the number two behind
John Thurso John Archibald Sinclair, 3rd Viscount Thurso (born 10 September 1953), known also as John Thurso, is a Scottish businessman, Liberal Democrat politician and hereditary peer who is notable for having served in the House of Lords both before and ...
as Transport spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats and nominated as a member of the Transport Select Committee. In April 2004, Marsden set the fifth fastest time for MPs completing the
London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically he ...
out of forty two that have taken part since it began in 1981, with a time of 3 hours 18 minutes 1 second. On 26 August 2004, 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. The campaign used legal counsel for advice but was unable to secure enough support for progressing the impeachment in parliament.


Announces retirement as MP and rejoins Labour

In July 2004 Marsden announced that he was retiring from politics and would not contest the May 2005 general election. He cited the toll suffered as a result of admissions about his private life and the effects on his family. He 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. He later apologised to Liberal Democrat supporters for leaving the party. He was the first British politician since
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
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. During his Parliamentary career Marsden raised over £10K for local and international charities through sponsored
marathon running The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
,
abseiling Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to low ...
and
swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
. In the 2005 general election the Conservative,
Daniel Kawczynski Daniel Robert Kawczynski ( pl, Kawczyński, ; born 24 January 1972) is a British Conservative Party politician. Kawczynski has served as Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a parliamentary ...
won back the Shrewsbury and Atcham seat from the subsequent Labour candidate, Michael Ion.


Expenses

Although MPs expenses were published after Marsden had left parliament, expenses claims were backdated to the time when he was a sitting MP.
Sir Thomas Legg Sir Thomas Stuart Legg (born 13 August 1935) is a British former senior civil servant, who was Permanent Secretary of the Lord Chancellor's Department and Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, United Kingdom (1989–98). Biography Born in London in ...
gave Marsden a clean bill of health and reported that he was one of only a minority of MPs and ex-MPs with "no issues".


Post-Parliamentary career

Before retiring from politics, Marsden co-authored the book ''Voices for Peace'' published by
Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
in 2001. Four years later he researched and published a local history book, ''
The Blackfriars of Shrewsbury ''The Black Friars of Shrewsbury'' is a short historical book by Paul Marsden, the former Shrewsbury (UK Parliament constituency), Shrewsbury MP, about the Dominican friars who arrived in Shrewsbury, England, in 1230 and built a church (building), ...
'' and returned to business consultancy in 2005. He also wrote more anti-war poetry. In December 2005, Marsden caused a row when he publicly confirmed
Charles Kennedy Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 1959 – 1 June 2015) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 ...
's drinking problems and that Kennedy had not been telling the truth about his illness. Kennedy's press secretary vehemently denied Marsden's story. However, by 5 January 2006, Kennedy admitted he had "a drink problem" and had sought "professional help". He resigned two days later as leader. In 2007, Marsden was appointed Director of Policy at the
British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection Cruelty Free International is an animal protection and advocacy group that campaigns for the abolition of all animal experiments. They organise certification of cruelty-free products which are marked with the symbol of a leaping bunny. It wa ...
and between 2008 and 2010 was the CEO of the Painting and Decorating Association. In May 2009, 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 September 2010, Marsden's war poem, ''Eighty at Ligny'' was used in l'exposition historique for the British World War I war cemetery in memory of the eighty British, Irish and Canadian soldiers who are buried in Ligny-sur-Canche. In 2010, Marsden returned to business consultancy, working as a consultant for a trade conference. In January 2011, it was reported that Marsden had commenced legal enquiries into allegations of hacking into his phone back in 2003. A suspended reporter who worked at the '' Sunday Mirror'' and then the '' News of the World'' was claimed to be involved. A Channel 4 ''Dispatches'' programme interviewed Marsden and it was revealed that the reporter in question, had been suspended for phone hacking, although he denied it. It was the first time that a newspaper other than the '' News of the World'' had been cited in connection with allegations of phone hacking. In May 2011, Marsden wrote on his Blog, www.paulwbmarsden.blogspot.com, an article about the debate on public interest vs privacy in which he mentioned the allegations that Ryan Giggs was the footballer who had taken out a
super injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...
against
Imogen Thomas Imogen Mary Thomas (born 29 November 1982) is a Welsh model and television personality. She won the Miss Wales award in 2003, and appeared on the seventh series of Channel 4 reality television programme '' Big Brother'' in 2006. In 2011, her a ...
. His Blog was written before John Hemming revealed the Manchester United player's name under parliamentary privilege. In July 2012, 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.VIP Security at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, published July 2012
In 2019 Marsden joined the TransPennine Route Upgrade Alliance as Business Systems Manager.


References


External links


Paul Marsden's Blog

Paul Marsden MPs website

Paul Marsden Public Whip voting record



BBC Profile of Paul Marsden

Record in Parliament for Paul Marsden

Paul Marsden on Twitter

Hansard 1803–2005: Contributions in Parliament by Paul Marsden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsden, Paul 1968 births English Anglicans Living people Liberal Democrats (UK) MPs for English constituencies Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Frodsham Politics of Shropshire Alumni of Teesside University Alumni of the Open University UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Shropshire