John Marek (born 24 December 1940) is a British politician who served as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

from 1983 to 2001, and the

Member of the Welsh Assembly A Member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; cy, Aelodau o'r Senedd; , plural:) (AS)., group=la is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd ...

(AM) for

from 1999 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party until 2003, he successfully stood for re-election to the

Welsh Assembly The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh ...

as a

John Marek Independent Party The John Marek Independent Party (JMIP) was a political party in North Wales which eventually evolved into Forward Wales. The JMIP was formed in March 2003 by John Marek. Marek had been deselected by his local Labour as official candidate in th ...

candidate. Marek founded and led

Forward Wales Forward Wales ( cy, Cymru Ymlaen) was a socialist political party operating in Wales. It evolved from the John Marek Independent Party (JMIP), formed by the ex- Labour member of the Welsh Assembly, John Marek who was the party's national conven ...

from 2003 until 2010, when the party was disbanded and he joined the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Background

Born in London, England and of

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

descent, Marek would be the only Czech-speaking MP during his tenure. He was educated at Chatham House Grammar School and at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

where he earned a BSc in Mathematics in 1962, and a PhD in Mathematics in 1965. He became a lecturer in applied mathematics at

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

Political career

Marek was elected a member of Ceredigion District Council in 1979 and served until 1983; he was chair of its finance sub-committee in the year 1982–83. Having previously unsuccessfully contested

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The ...

in October 1974, Marek was elected as Labour Party

for the Wrexham Westminster constituency in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

and served as a party spokesman on Treasury matters, although he was not offered a government post in 1997. As a supporter of devolution, he chose to move to the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Go ...

in 1999, and stood down from the UK Parliament in 2001. In the Assembly he became increasingly known as a maverick. In 2000, he was elected as Deputy Presiding Officer against the candidate preferred by the Labour leadership. This move, and his frequent criticisms of the Labour-led

Wrexham County Borough Wrexham County Borough ( cy, Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam) is a county borough, with city status, in the north-east of Wales. It borders England to the east and south-east, Powys to the south-west, Denbighshire to the west and Flintshire to the ...

led to his deselection as the Labour Party's candidate for the National Assembly elections of 1 May 2003. Marek then stood as a candidate for the

and defeated the official Labour Party candidate, Lesley Griffiths, a former secretary of his, by 973 votes. Later that year he formed a new political party called

( cy, Cymru Ymlaen). He ran for re-election in the

2007 Welsh Assembly election The 2007 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland, as well as the Scottis ...

, but was defeated by Labour's Lesley Griffiths by 1,250 votes, thanks to a swing to the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...

. On 29 March 2010, Marek joined the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, and was a member until 2016. He was confirmed as the party's candidate for the 2011 Welsh Assembly election where he again came second to Griffiths, by 3,335 votes in the Wrexham constituency. Marek is one of three Welsh MPs or AMs to win a constituency as both a party candidate and an independent, following

S. O. Davies Stephen Owen Davies ( – 25 February 1972) was a Welsh miner, trade union official and Labour Party politician, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Merthyr Tydfil, previously Merthyr for nearly 38 years, from 1934 to 1972. In 1970, well past 8 ...

who was MP for

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after T ...

from 1934 until his death in 1972, who was deselected by the local Labour Party on grounds of age prior to the 1970 general election but ran against the official candidate as an independent and won; and Peter Law who was barred from contesting his seat for Labour due to an all-woman shortlist being imposed

Wrexham AFC

In 2006, Marek was appointed as Vice President of Wrexham A.F.C. by then owners Nev Dickens and Geoff Moss. He remained in the position until the club passed into the ownership of the Wrexham Supporters Trust.

Footnotes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marek, John 1940 births Living people Welsh Labour Party MPs Politics of Wrexham Independent politicians in Wales Wales AMs 1999–2003 Wales AMs 2003–2007 Leaders of political parties in Wales National Union of Railwaymen-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 Academics of Aberystwyth University People educated at Chatham House Grammar School Alumni of King's College London Conservative Party (UK) politicians English people of Czech descent