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Charlie Gordon MSP.

Charles Gordon (born October 28, 1951) is a Scottish Labour Party politician. He is a Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Cathcart.

He was originally elected to the Strathclyde Regional Council in a by-election in October 1987 for the Kingston/Hutchesontown division, and switched to representing Drumchapel/Blairdardie on the Council from 1990 until 1996, when Strathclyde Regional Council was abolished. He was Strathclyde’s Vice Convener of Roads and Transport from 1990 to 1994 and Convener from 1994 to 1996.

He was President of the P.O.L.I.S. Network (Promoting Operational Links for Integrated Services) of European Cities and Regions applying information technology to transport, from 1992 - 1995. In 1995 he was elected to the new Glasgow City Council for the King's Park ward on the south side of the city and was its first Roads Convener until 1996. He was Chair of the new Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority from 1996 to 1999 and was elected Deputy Leader of Glasgow City Council in 1997.

In 1999, he became Leader of Glasgow City Council, an office which he held until 2005. As Leader of Glasgow City Council he led an administration that oversaw the writing off of the city’s massive housing debt, paving the way for a stock transfer and massive new investment in social housing; built 40 new schools in the city; introduced free breakfasts in all primary schools, and led the regeneration of the Clyde waterfront, with an investment of some £2.3billion thus far. At Strathclyde Regional Council he had implemented the rebuilding of Buchanan bus station and the completion of the first stage of the M77 motorway.

In 2005, following the resignation of Mike Watson as the MSP for Glasgow Cathcart, Charlie was selected as the candidate and on 29 September 2005 won the by-election by 2,405 votes from the SNP candidate Maire Whitehead. He resigned his council ward, King's Park, shortly afterwards, but in the by-election for this the Labour candidate was defeated by the Liberal Democrat candidate Cllr Margot Clark.

Gordon has been a member of the Labour Party for 26 years and a trade unionist for 35 years, starting off in the Woodworkers’ Union before becoming a branch and district official in the National Union of Railwaymen/RMT. He is a former President of Glasgow Trades Council and is currently a member of the GMB union.

Mr Gordon is currently a member of the Scottish Parliament's European and External Affairs Committee, Pulic Petitions Committee and the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Committee. Gordon is also a member of the Parliament's cross party group on Glasgow Crossrail and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.)

Mr Gordon has two adult sons from his first marriage and a baby son with his wife Emma, a teacher.

A recent article in the Evening Times alleged that Mr Gordon had not done a great deal of work in the area, but he has strongly rebutted this.

• Official Website
• £1B to Turn Clyde Fortunes, BBC News , 25 February 2002
• Scottish Parliament biography
• Cathcart by-election candidates
• City council leader to step aside, BBC News, 19 April 2005
• Labour victory in Cathcart Seat, BBC News , 30 September 2005
• Will New MSP Charlie Still Be The Voice Of Glasgow?, Evening Times , 30 September 2005
• Newest MSP takes up Holyrood Post, BBC News , 5 October 2005
• Holyrood Week, Brian Currie
• Evening Times letters page
• Scotland: Lack of Enterprise, BBC News , 19 June 2006

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