Man named Karl Marx wins Stockport seat for Labour
“Karl Marx” has been re-elected as a Labour councillor in Stockport, his council has confirmed, in another victory for Labour as local election results continue to pour in.
Councillor Karl Peter Marx Wardlaw won in Brinnington and Stockport Central – the council’s most deprived ward – in Greater Manchester, with 61 per cent of the vote.
Wardlaw seized victory in the first result from the borough in the early hours of this morning, receiving 1,069 votes of a total 1,752 cast in total.
Though “Marx” had represented the ward since May 2023, he had previously sought election as a Green Party candidate, where he received a comparatively paltry 13 per cent of the vote in 2019.
Wardlaw took to social media on polling day yesterday to announce he was “proud to represent and live in such a wonderful community”.
And he appeared to see the funny side when the news came in – reacting to the announcement, he issued a one-word post online: “infamy”, alongside a laughing emoji.
In his ward, Brinnington and Stockport Central, Wardlaw snatched the one seat up for election, with Lib Dem, Tory and Green candidates polling at 14, 13 and 12 per cent of the vote respectively.
Of the ward’s electorate, turnout languished at just 20 per cent – a comparative low in contrast with other wards in Stockport.
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Across the council, Labour lost two seats to the Liberal Democrats – while the latter failed to reach a majority by just one seat, they remained the largest party in the council with 31 out of 63 seats.
The news of the Communist philosopher’s namesake’s victory came as Labour totted up a slew of wins across the country.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party wrestled control of key seats in several races – with the Labour leader declaring the country has “had enough” of Conservative control in an address following the Blackpool South by-election, which recorded a 26 per cent swing from the Tories to Labour.
He said: “That wasn’t just a little message, that wasn’t just a murmur, that was a shout from Blackpool – we want change.
“And Blackpool speaks for the whole country – it’s saying that we’ve had enough now.”
And pollster Sir John Curtice said things could get even worse for the PM, telling the BBC: “So far they are basically losing a half of the seats they are trying to defend… If that continues, they may end up losing 500 or so seats, which is the thing they were meant to avoid.
“Early days yet, but where we have got the detailed voting numbers, it looks as though the Conservative vote is a wee bit down on where it was last year.
“We are probably looking at certainly one of the worst, if not the worst, Conservative performances in local government elections for the last 40 years.”