Pat McFadden (British politician)

For other people named Pat McFadden, see Pat McFadden (disambiguation).
The Right Honourable
Pat McFadden
MP
Shadow Minister for Europe
In office
20 October 2014 – 5 January 2016
Leader Ed Miliband
Harriet Harman (Acting)
Jeremy Corbyn
Preceded by Gareth Thomas
Succeeded by Pat Glass
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
In office
20 May 2010 – 7 October 2010
Leader Harriet Harman (Acting)
Preceded by Kenneth Clarke
Succeeded by John Denham
Minister of State for Business
In office
5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Preceded by Gareth Thomas
Succeeded by Mark Prisk
Minister of State for Employment Relations
In office
28 June 2007 – 5 June 2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Preceded by Jim Fitzpatrick
Succeeded by The Lord Young
Member of Parliament
for Wolverhampton South East
Assumed office
5 May 2005
Preceded by Dennis Turner
Majority 10,767 (31%)
Personal details
Born (1965-03-26) 26 March 1965
Paisley, Scotland, UK
Political party Labour
Alma mater University of Edinburgh
Religion Roman Catholicism
Website Official website

Patrick Bosco McFadden (born 26 March 1965 in Paisley) is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South East since 2005. He was briefly Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, and from October 2014 to January 2016 was Shadow spokesman on Europe under Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn.

Early life and career

McFadden is the son of Annie and James McFadden, both native Irish language speakers from the Falcarragh area of northern County Donegal in Ireland. He went to Holy Cross RC Primary School on Calder Street and Holyrood Secondary School in Crosshill, south-east Glasgow. McFadden studied Politics at the University of Edinburgh, gaining an MA in 1988, and was chair of Scottish Labour Students in 1986–87 before becoming a researcher in 1988 for Donald Dewar, then Labour's Scottish Affairs spokesman. In 1993 he left this role to become a speechwriter and policy adviser to the Labour leader John Smith.

Prior to becoming an MP he worked in several advisory roles for Tony Blair, both in opposition and government, and was the Prime Minister's Political Secretary from 2002.[1]

Parliamentary career

McFadden was elected at the 2005 general election, after Dennis Turner retired. In the 2006 reshuffle he was appointed as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Exclusion at the Cabinet Office. In the 2007 reshuffle he was promoted to Minister of State in the then newly created Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform with responsibility for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs. In October 2008, when Lord Mandelson replaced John Hutton as Business Secretary, McFadden took on duties as his deputy in order to represent the department in the House of Commons as Mandelson is a peer and can only address the Lords. McFadden was contemporaneously appointed to the Privy Council.

Following Labour's defeat in the 2010 election and the resignation of Gordon Brown, McFadden was named in interim leader Harriet Harman's shadow cabinet as Shadow Business Secretary.[2] After Ed Miliband's election as Labour leader in September 2010, McFadden announced his decision to stand in Labour's shadow cabinet election[3] but was not elected. However, when he reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet in 2014, Miliband appointed him as shadow minister for Europe.[4] He retained his post when Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader but was sacked in January 2016.[5]

According to McFadden he was sacked for comments in the debate on the Paris bombings which condemned "the view that sees terrorist acts as always being a response or a reaction to what we in the west do". The Labour leadership said that he had been sacked for "disloyalty", with John McDonnell saying that McFadden's remarks on terrorism were an example of McFadden undermining the leader's view.[6] Jonathan Reynolds and Stephen Doughty expressed support for McFadden in their resignation letters the following day.[7]

Personal life

McFadden and his wife, Marianna, have a son and a daughter. He is a supporter of Celtic Football Club. As a child he regularly visited Donegal, where his parents came from.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 'The Rt Hon Pat Jimmy Den Rua MP Documentary, TV Listings, www.tg4.ie, 16 September 2013.
  2. ↑ Lords Mandelson and Adonis leave shadow cabinet BBC News, 21 May 2010
  3. ↑ Shadow cabinet elections: 49 MPs enter ballot BBC News, 29 September 2010
  4. ↑ Mason, Rowena (20 October 2014). "Former minister Pat McFadden gets Europe brief in Labour mini-reshuffle". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  5. ↑ Mason, Rowena (6 January 2016). "Labour reshuffle". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  6. ↑ Watt, Nicholas (6 January 2016). "McFadden's supporters describe removal as vindictive". Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  7. ↑ "Three shadow ministers resign over Corbyn's 'dishonest' reshuffle". Guardian. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.

News items

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Dennis Turner		 Member of Parliament
for Wolverhampton South East
2005–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Jim Fitzpatrick		 Minister of State for Employment Relations
2007–2009 		Succeeded by
The Lord Young
Preceded by
Gareth Thomas		 Minister of State for Business
2009–2010 		Succeeded by
Mark Prisk
Preceded by
The Lord Mandelson		 Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
2010 		Succeeded by
John Denham
Preceded by
Gareth Thomas		 Shadow Minister for Europe
2014–2016 		Succeeded by
Pat Glass
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