John Marek

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John Marek

Assembly Member
In office 1999 – 2007
Preceded by	(new post)
Succeeded by	Lesley Griffiths
Constituency	Wrexham
Deputy Presiding Officer
In office 2000 – 2007
Preceded by	Jane Davidson
Succeeded by	Rosemary Butler

Born	December 24, 1940 (1940-12-24) (age 67) England
Political party	Forward Wales

John Marek PhD (born 24 December 1940, London), is the leader of the Welsh political party Forward Wales. He represented the Wrexham Welsh Assembly constituency at the National Assembly for Wales from 1999 to 2007.

1 Background
2 Political career
3 Wrexham AFC
4 Offices held

[edit] Background

Of Czech descent, he was the only Czech-speaking Member of the UK Parliament.

[edit] 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 2001 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.^{[citation needed]}

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

He was defeated in the 2007 Welsh Assembly election by Labour's Lesley Griffiths.

[edit] 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]}

[edit] 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