Post by tvv on Apr 15, 2007 23:02:02 GMT -5
The Foreign Dispatch from Great Britain and Ireland[/font]
April 2007
10th April 2007
Greetings to all the nations, regions, and readers of the world from the desks of the Foreign Office of His Majesty --Great Britain--, King of Great Britain and Ireland and all her Dominions and Colonies. The Foreign Dispatch is written by North East Somerset and Klopstock, the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister of GB&I respectively, with the assistance of His Majesty's Government, Members of Parliament, distinguished ambassadors and guests, and loyal British Citizens. Please enjoy!
General Election
The election of the 13th March 2007 was played up by the government to be a real thriller and it didn’t disappoint. A record number of candidates signed up to stand for election to parliament, which made the competition fiercer than ever before.
Manifestos were posted by the majority of candidates, and rabid debate followed as each candidate tried to persuade the citizenry to vote for them and their ideas over their opponents, whilst the other candidates tried to point out mistakes and difficulties in their agendas.
The campaigning period reached a climax with over 700 posts in one day, largely in the Hustings manifesto area. The polls were set up on the 9th March, initially by the Home Secretary although he had not set a limit to vote for five candidates. Fortunately this was rapidly spotted, and within a couple of hours, and before the deadline for the poll being set up a new one was started by the outgoing Prime Minister.
The votes at the end of the election on the 13th March looked as follows, with North East Somerset gaining the highest number of votes followed by Klopstock, both a considerable margin ahead of the mainstream:
North East Somerset (Independant) [ 16 ] [13.91%]
Posul (Independant) [ 8 ] [6.96%]
Windsor-Bainbridge (Independant) [ 9 ] [7.83%]
British Allies (Independant) [ 6 ] [5.22%]
Klopstock (Independant) [ 15 ] [13.04%]
NatetheGreat (Alliance Party) [ 4 ] [3.48%]
Lethen (Independant) [ 7 ] [6.09%]
Riddim (Independant) [ 5 ] [4.35%]
English Sympathizers (Independant) [ 5 ] [4.35%]
The Venerable Vendetta (Independant) [ 8 ] [6.96%]
The Kingdom of Paquerettes (Independant) [ 4 ] [3.48%]
Killtron (Independant) [ 7 ] [6.09%]
donchatryit (Independant) [ 9 ] [7.83%]
Fenchurch (Independant) [ 8 ] [6.96%]
Arqia (Independant) [ 4 ] [3.48%]
The final results of the general election meant the following 12 citizens were elected as MPs, due to a tie for the final place:
North East Somerset
Posul
Windsor-Bainbridge
British Allies
Klopstock
Lethen
Riddim
English Sympathizers
The Venerable Vendetta
Killtron
donchatryit
Fenchurch
Shortly after the election of the MPs, the House of Commons discussed the issue of the election of the Prime Minister. Twice previous Prime Minister Posul had put a serious campaign bid in with promises of a referendum on ACCEL, basing Cabinet appointments on recruiting efforts and a government newspaper. The outgoing Prime Minister North East Somerset declined to run, and instead supported Klopstock for Prime Minister.
A considerable debate between Klopstock and Posul followed in the House of Commons with Klopstock saying: “I grow more and more amused as I watch my Rt. Honourable colleague continue with ever greater enthusiasm in his gusts of fierce yet scattered rhetoric, half truths, re-inventions, and embarrassing attempts to portray himself as the active, competent, and productive member which he is not and has for the last many months never been.”
In the end, after the debate, Klopstock won a vote amongst the MPs by 8 to 1, a considerable majority, and was appointed as the Prime Minister by His Majesty, --Great Britain-- on the 22nd March 2007.
The State Opening of Parliament
The State Opening of Parliament was completed by His Majesty the King, on the 22nd March 2007, when he made this speech to the region:
“ My Lords, Honourable Members, Subjects of this Great Realm,
Having observed the distribution of votes between candidates and their subsequent distribution of support between the known supporters of the stated Prime Ministerial candidates, I am pleased to be able to invite the independent candidate, Klopstock, to form a Government in this the thirteenth Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland. I believe that he and his supporters currently have the greatest mandate to govern, along with the greatest ability to command support in Parliament.
During the next term, Klopstock will face the challenge of translating the activity that the region has acquired during the last term into progress. This progress must be achieved without jeopardising our foundations as a region, as we have foolishly done so many times before. Each time we let our pulse drop too low we risk it stopping forever. A day will come when a no leader, no matter how good is able to save us. And each time we risk the region due to poor governance, we risk losing it not temporarily, but forever.
Klopstock has stepped into the fray before when we needed a leader to start our machine of government up again, this time he faces a very different task. The region has much potential locked up, with record candidacies for election, and record post counts over the last term. But this potential must be organised and refined from crude activity, to useable fuel, and then, he fuel must be used in an efficient manner, to achieve a useful task.
What that task should be is clear: to manoeuvre our region diplomatically to open up new and great opportunities; to make the military a manageable and effective fighting force; to increase the number of members in the region and active on the forum; to develop the forums to provide the services that citizens of the region deserve; to continue the legacy of legal governance by improving the statute; and above all, to take any action possible, not just necessary, to make GB&I a greater region.
With the right strategic and tactical policies, and the active and determined leadership, that Klopstock is here to provide, GB&I can complete the move diplomatically, militarily and technically into the Premier league of regions of Nationstates that it belongs to. With over two years of experience, and over 100,000 posts behind us, and the largest team of committed, experienced and willing individuals we’ve ever had, we are in a prime position to do so, now more than any time before.”
The Prime Minister then decided to announce the Cabinet on March 23rd 2007 here.
Foreign Secretary: North East Somerset
Home Secretary: The Venerable Vendetta
Minister of Community: Windsor Bainbridge
Minister of Security: Lethen
It is the first time, since September 2005, that a Colonial Secretary is not included in the Cabinet. The office was abolished when it was decided that the Dominions of the Empire should be granted independence. Colonial affairs, as utilized with the recent institution of the Commonwealth Realms, now fall under the authority of the Foreign Office.
To replace the Colonial Secretary, a new office has been created, that of the Minister for Community. The role of the new Minister shall be to endeavour towards increasing the social, cultural, and recreational activities available in the region as well as promoting a healthy community atmosphere.
Junior Ministerial positions have already started being announced, while the Prime Minister has decided to appoint Riddim for another term as the UN Delegate of the region, although this time she shall not be a member of the Cabinet.
The new Government has announced their agenda, which can be found here. Great Britain and Ireland is looking forward to a productive and prosperous term.
Crown Prince Referendum
His Majesty the King in all his glory
On January 14th 2007 Foreign Secretary Lethen set up a petition on the General Discussion board to have another administrator on the boards. His Majesty --Great Britain— was well behind in his administrative duties and for some time had been failing to make changes in a reasonable amount of time. The Foreign Secretary was having to continually apologise to incoming ambassadors trying to set up embassies about the time it took for the forum to be put up, even leading to some minor disputes with impatient ambassadors.
He made a short speech as a precursor to the petition: “Its been long enough. For too long the King's inactivity has hurt the region. As we don't believe he will be swayed by convincing or discussion, we have decided to set up this petition. All those who wish to have another admin setup on the forums, please sign. We love --GB--, we just don't love his inactivity. Please sign if you love the region!”
At first members signed it, but then North East Somerset arrived exclaiming that the petition had no legal grounds and was not the correct way to go about this issue. Soon after Posul posted in outrage calling the petitioners treasonous and disgraceful, and called for, “Punishments before such like minded actions take place again.”
R3nnaissanc3r, Westmorlandia and Trividium also made appearances all saying that they support a second administrator, that they didn’t think this was the correct way to go about it, but they did not think it was treasonous.
After further discussion and debate the King himself appeared, and made a heartfelt speech about his time in the region saying that he will call a referendum on the issue after one month, on whether Great Britain and Ireland should have a Crown Prince. His speech of January 15th 2007 can be viewed here.
Campaigning then began, with Windsor Bainbridge making a speech in favour of not having a Crown Prince. Other loyalists to the King including North East Somerset also pointed out the complex legal issues with having a Crown Prince, and the advantages of keeping the status quo. Others including Klopstock and Loyal British Columbia put forwards the case for a Crown Prince. Many stayed neutral publicly.
After one month and five days, the referendum was put up and the votes began to accumulate. By the time five days were up 13 votes had been given to each side so the King intervened allowing another 24 hours of votes, in which 3 votes came out for the Crown Prince to not be installed, and the vote was decided.
A flurry of activity then followed in which many accusations and comments flew about. Some said that they voted “No” because they wanted a second administrator not a Crown Prince. Some said the King had been especially active recently. Others said the issue was not closed and discussion on how to make this viable should continue, whilst His Majesty said a “No” vote was definitive and the issue was closed.
With administrative duties once again piling up with the removal of temporary administrator North East Somerset whom was privately appointed by the Monarch to the role some time after the vote had occurred, and who has been keeping the forums administered over the last few months, the issue may raise its ugly head in the future.
