Mark Hunter (politician)

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For other persons named Mark Hunter, see Mark Hunter (disambiguation).

Mark Hunter MP

Mark James Hunter (born July 25, 1957) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is the current Member of Parliament for Cheadle.

Hunter was educated at Audenshaw Grammar School for Boys and worked as a marketing executive for the Guardian Media Group. He ran as the Liberal candidate in Ashton under Lyne in the 1987 general election, and as the Liberal Democrat candidate in Stockport in the 2001 general election. He was first elected to Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council in May 1996 for a ward in Marple, and served as Chair of Education before replacing Patsy Calton as Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Regeneration in June 2001 when she stood down after becoming the local MP. In May 2002 he became Leader of the Council.

As Leader, Hunter served on the North West Regional Authority. He was also elected to the Liberal Democrat executive on the Local Government Association. When Patsy Calton died shortly after the 2005 general election, Hunter was selected to follow her. In a by-election which saw accusations of 'dirty tricks' but was fairly low-profile (coming so soon after the general election), he managed to slightly increase the Liberal Democrat percentage of the vote on a lower turnout.