Kenneth Marks was a Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 politician in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

Marks was Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Manchester Gorton

Manchester Gorton (UK Parliament constituency)

Manchester, Gorton is a parliamentary constituency in the city of Manchester, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-1885–1918:...

 from a 1967 by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 to 1983. From 1975 to 1979, he was a junior Environment minister.

Prior to his by-election success he served as a Labour Councillor on the Denton urban district council, representing Denton West. Although re-selected to fight Manchester Gorton at the 1983 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1983

The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...

, boundary changes substantially altered the constituency boundaries, with the largest part of the constituency, Denton

Denton, Greater Manchester

Denton is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It is five miles to the east of Manchester city centre, and has a population of 26,866....

 and Audenshaw

Audenshaw

Audenshaw is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It is located on the east side of the River Tame, along the course of both the M60 motorway and the Ashton Canal, southwest of Ashton-under-Lyne and east of the city of Manchester...

 in Tameside

Tameside

The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after the River Tame which flows through the borough and spans the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley and Stalybridge. Its western...

 Metropolitan Borough

Metropolitan borough

A metropolitan borough is a type of local government district in England, and is a subdivision of a metropolitan county. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts, however all of them have been granted or regranted...

 merging with Reddish in Stockport

Stockport

Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...

 Metropolitan Borough to form a new Denton and Reddish

Denton and Reddish

Denton and Reddish is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 constituency. Gorton

Gorton

Gorton is an area of the city of Manchester, in North West England. It is located to the southeast of Manchester city centre. Neighbouring areas include Longsight and Levenshulme....

 was included with much of the former Manchester Ardwick constituency

Manchester Ardwick (UK Parliament constituency)

Manchester Ardwick was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Manchester which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

 which was re-named Manchester Gorton.

As there were three Labour MPs potentially contesting two new seats, Ken Marks, who was the senior of the three, stood down, allowing Stockport North's Andrew Bennett

Andrew Bennett

Andrew Francis Bennett is a British Labour Party politician, who was a member of Parliament from 1974 to 2005.-Early life:...

 to inherit Denton and Reddish and Gerald Kaufman

Gerald Kaufman

Sir Gerald Bernard Kaufman is a British Labour Party politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 1970, first for Manchester Ardwick, and then subsequently for Manchester Gorton...

to move across from Ardwick to the new Gorton seat.