Charles Bradsworth
Charles Bradsworth, or ‘the Man with the Golden Tongue,’ is the enigmatic leader of the Gull Flag Revolution in Iansisle. He first appeared on the scene in late 1948, soon after the German-Chiangese War ended. Bradsworth started giving a series of ‘soapbox lectures’ on the inequities of the Grand Empire in East Ianapalis, but soon crossed to the Government Sector after east-side police hassled him.
ANH Ambassador
On 4 February 1949, Bradsworth was called before the Combined Parliament as part of a desperate ploy to shut him up. There, the Earl of Inswick, Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced their intention to make Bradsworth the Ambassador to the Alliance of the New Highlands (ANH). Bradsworth readily accepted the appointment and his ‘Golden Tongue’ was soon safely out of Iansisle in Golden Agate, Larkinia.
Gull Flag Revolution
However, after news of the fighting against the corporate powers which had usurped the government in early June 1952 reached the alliance headquarters, Bradsworth hurried back to the Shield. He united the revolting factions and by 3 August 1952 drove the corporatists from the city. Raising a red standard with the image of a soaring gull above Jameston Place and capturing the High King of the Empire, Bradsworth declared United Kingdom of the Shield. As Premier Interim of the Constituent Assembly -- his election to this post irritated ambitious Lawrence Madders -- Bradsworth was one of the primary authors of the landmark Constitution of 1954, the first written constitution in Iansislean history. In the elections of 18 May 1954, Bradsworth walked away with a clear victory over Madders and his radical Grand Street faction.
Premiership
Bradsworth's first term as the Premier of the National Assembly, which, under the Constitution, was marked primarily by the annexation of Gadsan and the subsequent war with Effit. Bradsworth proved less adept at handling his subordinates than he was at rallying the people, however, and he allowed several key Directorates to slip out of his control, notably Lawrence Madders and the War Directorate. Without Bradsworth's approval or knowledge, Madders used his power to remove Sir Hunter N. Kennington, the venerable First Sea Lord and replace him at the Admiralty with Martin Hansfield, a radical. Later, Madders approved (again in secret) the use of chemical weapons against Dianatranian nomads and a large-scale purge of the military.
In the elections of 18 May 1956, Bradsworth again walked away with the Premiership, although his moderate Gull Flag faction lost significant ground to Madders' radicals. This term in office proved more eventful than the first, as King James took up his banner and started a royalist insurrection. Popular pressure to amend the Constitution to make Iansisle a full republic mounted. Acquiescing, Bradsworth declared the King an outlaw and the monarchy defunct.
However, after James was captured by Major General Nicodemo Ranalte and the Army of the Daldon, the ci-devant king was put on trial in front of the National Assembly. With James convicted of multiple capital crimes, the Assembly was eager for regicide but Bradsworth urged a cautious exile. When a national referendum showed that a substantial majority of Iansisle, despite vigorous campaigning by the Premier, favored a death sentence, Bradsworth resigned as Premier.
Retirement
Exhausted by his career as a soldier, revolutionary and leader, Charles Bradsworth decided to marry his boyhood sweetheart and move to the town of Hencross in northern Daldonia to raise horses. He left Benjamin Rinehart, an old friend from the Revolution, as the Premier Interim until new elections could be called in 1959. The backbencher Thomas de Fenne, a colleague of Madders’, moved up to fill Rinehart’s post as Director of Foreign Affairs.
From all accounts, Bradsworth’s seclusion in Hencross was originally a peaceful one. However, his name was too famous for his own good. Madders found a trail of shady financial deals involving the slushing of funds from important accounts to personal funds. Eager to deal with Bradsworth, Madders had the former premier arrested and executed on corruption and treason charges. Ironically, if Madders had followed the trail of evidence rather than pouncing immediately on Bradsworth, it would have eventually led him to Rinehart and he might have been able to sieze complete power before Nicodemo Ranalte's coup. Bradsworth died at the gallows in Gull Flag Square just weeks before Madders' own downfall.
