Paul William Barry Marsden (born 18 March 1968, Frodsham) is a British politician. He was the Liberal Democrat member of Parliament for Shrewsbury and Atcham, having defected from the Labour Party in 2001.
Marsden was educated at Helsby High School, Mid-Cheshire College, Teesside Polytechnic, the Open University and Newcastle College .
Prior to his politicial career, he worked in quality assurance at Taylor Woodrow and the NatWest Bank. He is married with two sons.
Marsden was first elected to the seat in 1997 as a Labour MP. He defected to the Lib Dems in December 2001, after confrontations with Labour whips over his opposition to military action in Afghanistan.
Marsden announced in July 2004 that he would not contest the May 2005 general election. He also announced that he had a tumour in his shoulder. Richard Burt was elected as the Liberal Democrat PPC on 6 November 2004. Michael Ion will be standing for Labour.
On 5 April 2005, within hours of the start of the election campaign, Marsden announced his intention to rejoin the Labour Party. He stated that although he still disagreed with the government over the wars and investment in public services, he could better make his points from within the Party and did not want to see good Labour MPs who shared his views lose their seats.
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