Kenneth Marks

Who was Kenneth Marks?

Kenneth Marks was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.

Marks was Member of Parliament for Manchester Gorton from a 1967 by-election to 1983. From 1975 to 1979, he was a junior Environment minister.

Before his by-election success he served as a Labour councillor on the Denton Urban District Council, representing Denton West. Although reselected to fight Manchester Gorton at the 1983 general election, boundary changes substantially altered the constituency boundaries, with the largest part of the constituency, Denton and Audenshaw in Tameside Metropolitan Borough, merging with Reddish in Stockport Metropolitan Borough to form a new Denton and Reddish constituency. Gorton was included with much of the former Manchester Ardwick constituency, which was renamed Manchester Gorton.

As there were potentially three Labour MPs contesting two new seats, Marks, who was the senior of the three, stood down, allowing Stockport North's Andrew Bennett to inherit Denton and Reddish and Gerald Kaufman to move across from Ardwick to the new Gorton seat.