Newark-on-Trent - Governance

Governance

Newark returned two representatives to the Unreformed House of Commons from 1673. It was the last borough to be created before the Reform Act. William Ewart Gladstone, later Prime Minister, was MP for Newark in 1832, and re-elected in 1835, 1837 and 1841 (twice), but possibly due to his support of the repeal of the Corn Laws and other issues he stood elsewhere after that time. Recently, Newark elections have been central to two interesting legal cases. In 1945, a challenge to Harold Laski, the Chairman of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party, led Laski to sue the Daily Express when it reported him as saying that Labour might take power through violence if defeated at the polls. Laski vehemently denied saying this but lost the libel action. In the 1997 general election, Newark returned Fiona Jones of the Labour Party. The defeated Liberal Democrat candidate questioned her election expenses and the police investigated and eventually prosecuted. Jones and her election agent Des Whicher were convicted of submitting a fraudulent declaration of expenses, but the conviction was overturned on appeal. Had the conviction stood, Jones would have been disqualified from Parliament.

Newark's current MP is Patrick Mercer, Conservative. Mercer held the position of Shadow Minister for Homeland Security from June 2003 until March 2007, when he was forced to resign following racially contentious comments made to The Times.

Newark is governed by Nottinghamshire County Council, and is in the Newark and Sherwood district, which returns ten councillors. The town has a locally elected council of eighteen members from five wards. Newark Town Council is responsible for local events such as the LocAle & Weinfest, as well as looking after the museum, and the allotments.