John Marek
|
|
Dr John Marek (born 24 December 1940), Welsh politician. He has been member of the Welsh Assembly for Wrexham since 1999. Of Czech descent, he was the only Czech-speaking member of the British Parliament.
He was elected as Labour Party Member of Parliament for Wrexham 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 Welsh Assembly in 1999, and stood down from 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 Council led to his deselection as the Labour Party's candidate for the Welsh 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 by 673 votes.
Later that year he formed a new political party called Forward Wales (Cymru Ymlaen).