Albert Cummings

Sir Albert Cummings is well known for indulging in the finer things - gourmet food, expensive cigars and fine liquor. He also has a well-earned reputation for a hot temper and a tendency to speak first and think later. These traits have led many to question his affiliation with the Excalbia Christian Union Party. However, despite his personal predilections, Cummings is also known as an ardent and forceful champion of the Christian Union platform.

Cummings was born into a large working class family in the suburbs of Landing. Raised in a strict Baptist home, Cummings naturally gravitated to the youth wing of the Christian Union while in university. Having been raised to believe in Christian social responsibility as well as in traditional values, Cummings gradually moved from the conservative wing on the CU to its more progressive wing.

Embracing the belief that society and the government had a responsibility to extend assistance to the poor and disadvantaged and to support the rights of workers, Cummings began a leader in city politics in Landing. He transitioned from city politics to the Imperial Senate in 1988, where he became CU's leading progressive voice.

An effective spokesman and potent lobbyist, Cummings soon earned a ministerial portfolio as Minister of Labor and Welfare. His outspoken and aggressive manner, however, soon cost him his job. Cummings has gone on to hold the Education and Agriculture portfolios and has chaired the Senate Commission on Labor and Welfare. Each posting, however, has been brief. Cummings outbursts have not only cost him his portfolio several times, but have also cost him the knighthood and title that he is reputed to covet.

Cummings appointment as Minister of State by David IV and Imperial Chancellor Lady Christina Freedman shocked the Excalbian political class and was taken as a direct indictment of his predecessor. Lord P.R.R. Garrison, the former Minister of State, was a diplomatic veteran and well-liked practitioner of the Excalbian art of gentle, slow-moving diplomacy. His removal and assignment to a ceremonial position combined with the appointment of the undiplomatic Cummings signaled a clear break with the Empire's past diplomatic efforts and a new, more active foreign policy.

After the election of 2005, the Liberal Party (LP) held the largest block of seats in the new Senate and was invited by the Emperor to form a new government under the chancellorship of Lady Jessica Tagaarth. As the only member of the previous government invited to join the new coalition, the Christian Union was in a position to keep Cummings in place as Minister of State.

Cummings has been married to the former Patricia Evans since 1978 and the couple have one son. Patricia Cummings has published several poems and books of essays, however, she is well known for keeping a low profile and is rarely seen at society events or diplomatic receptions.