Paul Marsden

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For the Emmerdale character, see Paul Marsden (Emmerdale).

Paul William Barry Marsden (born March 18, 1968) is a British politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury and Atcham from the 1997 to 2005 and was known for his outspoken anti-war views and for twice switching his political party affiliation.

Marsden was born in Frodsham, Cheshire and educated at Helsby High School, Mid-Cheshire College, Teesside Polytechnic, the Open University and Newcastle College. Prior to his political career, he worked in quality assurance at Taylor Woodrow, NatWest Bank and Mitel Telecom.

Marsden was first elected at the 1997 general election as a Labour candidate in a seat which had never previously been held by Labour, and retained it at the 2001 election. He defected to the Liberal Democrats in December 2001, after confrontations with Labour whips over his opposition to military action in Afghanistan and civilian casualties. His private life received some coverage in the press when he published a set of political, anti-war, and love poems. As a result of the press coverage he admitted to more than one affair. By crossing the floor of the House of Commons, his actions led to a parliamentary vote being granted before the Iraq war.

In July 2004 Marsden announced that he would not contest the May 2005 general election — he also announced that he had a bone tumour in his shoulder. On April 5, 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 could better make his points from within the Party and did not want to see Labour MPs who shared his views lose their seats.

The subsequent Labour candidate in Shrewsbury and Atcham, Michael Ion, lost the seat in the 2005 general election to the Conservative,Daniel Kawczynski.

After retiring from politics, Marsden published a book entitled The Blackfriars of Shrewsbury.