Kenneth Marks (15 June 1920 – 13 January 1988) was a Labour Party politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Marks was Member of Parliament (MP) for Manchester Gorton from a 1967 by-election to 1983. From 1975 to 1979, he was a junior Environment minister. He was educated at the Central High School, Manchester and

Manchester Academy (secondary school) Manchester Academy is a coeducational secondary school within the English Academy programme, in Moss Side, Manchester. It is situated on Moss Lane East (B5219), near Denmark Road, with the University of Manchester nearby to the north and the W ...

. In 1955 he unsuccessfully contested Manchester Moss Side at the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

. Before his by-election success, Marks served as a Labour councillor on the Denton

Urban District Council In England and Wales, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council. ...

, representing Denton West. Prior to entering parliament he was a

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

head teacher.Hansard, House of Commons, Vol. 796, Col. 1464, 26 February 1970. He was also a member of the

National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in Education in England, England, Education in Wales, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NU ...

and served on its advisory committee for secondary schools. In parliament he was chairman of the Labour Party's social security group and vice chairman of its education group, as well as serving on the Select committee on Education and Science. From 1970 to 1971 he served as a

whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

. Although Marks was reselected to fight Manchester Gorton some time before the 1983 general election, subsequent changes (the Third Periodic Review) implemented shortly before the election substantially altered the boundaries of the constituency; its largest part, Denton and Audenshaw in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, merged with

Reddish Reddish is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester city centre. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census, the population was 28,052. Historic counties of England, Historical ...

in the

Metropolitan Borough of Stockport The Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is south-east of central Manchester and south of Tameside. As well as the towns of Stockport, Bredbury and Marple, Greater Manchester, Marple, ...

to form a new Denton and Reddish constituency.

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is to the southeast of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A ...

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 Andrew Bennett of Stockport North to inherit Denton and Reddish, and

Gerald Kaufman Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman (21 June 1930 – 26 February 2017) was a British politician and author who served as a minister throughout the Labour government of 1974 to 1979. Elected as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member of parliame ...

to move across from Ardwick to the new Gorton seat.

References

*''Times Guide to the House of Commons 1979'' * 1920 births 1988 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 Parliamentary private secretaries to the prime minister People educated at the Central Grammar School for Boys {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub