John Marek (politician)

John Marek
Deputy Presiding Officer of the Welsh Assembly
In office 2 May 2000 – 7 May 2007
Preceded by	Jane Davidson
Succeeded by	Rosemary Butler
Member of the Welsh Assembly for Wrexham
In office 6 May 1999 – 3 May 2007
Preceded by	Assembly Established
Succeeded by	Lesley Griffiths
Member of Parliament for Wrexham
In office 9 June 1983 – 7 June 2001
Preceded by	Tom Ellis
Succeeded by	Ian Lucas
Personal details
Born	24 December 1940 (1940-12-24) London, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Other political affiliations	Forward Wales (2003 – 10) John Marek Independent (2003) Labour (1983–2003)
Alma mater	King's College London

Dr John Marek (born 24 December 1940, London), is a Welsh Conservative politician and former Member of Parliament and Member of the National Assembly for Wales. He was leader of Forward Wales until joining the Conservatives in 2010.

He was Labour Member of Parliament for Wrexham from 1983 until 2001. He stood down after he was elected to represent Wrexham in the National Assembly for Wales in 1999. At first, this was for the Labour Party, but he was deselected in 2003, and formed Forward Wales, for whom he was re-elected. He was defeated at the 2007 election.

Background

Of Czech descent, he was the only Czech-speaking Member of the UK Parliament. He was educated at Chatham House Grammar School and at King's College London where he earned a BSc in Mathematics in 1962, and a PhD in Mathematics in 1965. He became a lecturer in applied mathematics at the Aberystwyth University

Political career

He was elected as Labour Party Member of Parliament for the Wrexham Westminster constituency in 1983 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 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 led to his deselection as the Labour Party's candidate for the National Assembly elections of 1 May 2003.

He then stood as a candidate for the John Marek Independent Party and defeated the official Labour Party candidate, Lesley Griffiths, by 973 votes. Later that year he formed a new political party called 'Forward Wales' (Welsh: Cymru Ymlaen).

He ran for re-election in the 2007 Welsh Assembly election, but was defeated by Labour's Lesley Griffiths by 1,250 votes, thanks to a swing to the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, and UKIP.

On 29 March 2010, Marek joined the Conservative Party. and was later confirmed as the party's candidate for the 2011 Welsh Assembly election

Wrexham AFC

In 2006, he was appointed a vice president of Wrexham A.F.C. by new owners Nev Dickens and Geoff Moss. This appointment was viewed with some concern by many fans of the club, as he had previously supported the bid of ex-chairman Mark Guterman when Guterman was trying to regain control of the club.^{[citation needed]}

Offices held

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Tom Ellis	Member of Parliament for Wrexham 1983–2001	Succeeded by Ian Lucas
National Assembly for Wales
Preceded by (new post)	Assembly Member for Wrexham 1999–2007	Succeeded by Lesley Griffiths
Preceded by Jane Davidson	Deputy Presiding Officer 2000–2007	Succeeded by Rosemary Butler