John Marek

Infobox Politician
name=John Marek

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imagesize=150px
birth_date =birth date and age|1940|12|24
birth_place = London, England
office = Assembly Member
constituency=Wrexham
term_start =1999
term_end =2007
predecessor = (new post)
successor = Lesley Griffiths
office2 = Deputy Presiding Officer
term_start2= 2000
term_end2 = 2007
predecessor2 = Jane Davidson
successor2 = Rosemary Butler
office3 =
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term_end3 =
firstminister3 =
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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.

Background

Of Czech descent, he was the only Czech-speaking Member of the UK Parliament. [cite web | title=BBC News AMs profile | work=BBC | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/uk/wales/13126.stm John Marek| accessdate=1999-09-01]

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. [cite web | title=BBC News AMs profile | work=BBC | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/uk/wales/13126.stm John Marek| accessdate=1999-09-01] 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. [cite web | title=AM loses reselection battle | work=BBC | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2780445.stm| accessdate=2003-02-22]

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)". [cite web | title=Marek is first independent AM | work=BBC | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/2984637.stm| accessdate=2003-05-02]

He was defeated in the 2007 Welsh Assembly election by Labour's Lesley Griffiths. [cite web | title=Independent John Marek is ousted | work=BBC | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/6622221.stm| accessdate=2007-05-04]

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.Fact|date=March 2008

References

Offices held