Charles Alexander James Whelan (born 3 February 1954, north-east Surrey) is former political director of the British trade union Unite. He rose to prominence as spokesman for Labour politician

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

from 1992 to 1999. He has also worked as a presenter on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Radio.

Early life and career

Whelan's father was a Conservative-voting civil servant. Between 1968 and 1974, Whelan went to Ottershaw School, a state boarding school in

Ottershaw Ottershaw is a village in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately southwest of central London. The village developed in the mid-19th century from a number of separate hamlets and became a parish in its own right in 1871. Th ...

, Surrey, which had been established in 1948 by Surrey County Council (SCC) as a boarding school for boys of 12 to 18 years of age. It was the first of its kind in the country to be entirely in the hands of a Local Education Authority. He studied Politics at the City of London Polytechnic (which became the

London Guildhall University London Guildhall University was a university in the United Kingdom from 1992 to 2002, established when the City of London Polytechnic was awarded university status. On 1 August 2002, it merged with the University of North London to form Londo ...

in 1992). In 1980 Whelan became a foreign exchange dealer. From 1981 to 1992 he was a researcher and assistant to Jimmy Airlie of the Amalgamated Engineering Union. He was a member of the Communist Party during the 1980s.

Resignation and later career

Whelan resigned as Brown's spokesman in 1999 after leaking information relating to Peter Mandelson's resignation over a home loan. He has since carved out a career in the media, presenting shows for

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

and

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

. Whelan worked as a political director for Unite, Britain's biggest trade union. In April 2009, it was revealed that Whelan was copied in on emails from Damian McBride which proposed to publish lies about opposition politicians and their families on the internet. The ensuing scandal forced McBride's resignation, followed by personal letters of regret from the Prime Minister to those named. A leading article in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' on 16 April 2009 called on Unite to review its relationship with Whelan as a result.

In popular culture

Stephen Frears Sir Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is a British director and producer of film and television, often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply-drawn characters. He has received numerous a ...

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

film '' The Deal'', Charlie Whelan was played by

Dexter Fletcher Dexter Fletcher (born 31 January 1966) is an English film director and actor. He has appeared in Guy Ritchie's '' Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'', as well as in television shows such as the comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by th ...

References

External links

Whelan's articles in The Guardian

''Whelan's articles in The New Statesman''
*
Ottershaw School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whelan, Charlie Alumni of London Guildhall University People from Ottershaw British special advisers 1954 births Living people BBC Radio 5 Live presenters Trade unionists from Surrey The Guardian people British communists Communist Party of Great Britain members Labour Party (UK) officials Ottershaw