Prime Minister (Oceania)

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Azazia, Juristan, Kingsland, and the Indian Islands is the head of government and is accordingly responsible, theoretically, for executing the wishes of the Sovereign, the head of state of the UK. The Prime Minister, along with his or her Cabinet, is chosen by the Sovereign from one of the two houses of Parliament and in so doing ensures that the Prime Minister is held accountable by Parliament. Currently, the office is held by the First Marquess of Salisbury.

History

Although the United Kingdom is itself a new political institution, created by the Empire Act in the early 21st century, the office of the Prime Minister was present in the Commonwealth, the political predecessor of the UK.

Following independence from Great Britain, the construction of a democratic government included many aspects of the Westminster system among which included the office of Prime Minister of the Commonwealth. Two important distinction, however, limited the power of the Prime Minister: the creation of a Sovereign in a new monarchy to supplant the monarchy of the Azazian people and the establishment of an Office of the President of the Commonwealth, who would be democratically elected and carry out many executive functions and direct national policy and the legislative agenda. In effect, the Prime Minister became a steward of the government, and was principally tasked with ensuring passage of the President’s policies through Parliament.

At first initially considered the lowest tier of the ‘executives’ of the UK government, the Prime Minister created no policies and laid out the agenda of the President for many decades. However, by the 1940s the governance of the Commonwealth had become all but dependent upon the consent of the Prime Minister, who retained the authority by convention to set the legislative agenda independently of influence from the President – but importantly still at the bequest of the Sovereign. The most first test of this independence of authority came in 1949 at the start of the second civil war, when Azazian nationalists assassinated President Thomas Adar.

The Office of the President had no clearly delineated successor and thus in an interim period the office lay vacant until elections could be held. Thus the opportunity was provided for Niles Rowland to lead the government as Prime Minister of the Commonwealth. Rowland concurrently held together a coalition government that kept the only recently mollified European separatists in the government while managing the early military campaigns and organizing, per his constitutional role, the election for Adar’s successor.

By the end of 1949 elections had been held and Matthew Avin succeeded Adar as President; yet, owing to both Avin’s charisma and adroitness at governance the Prime Minister largely fell back into the woodwork of Commonwealth government – but the true importance of the office had been seen. The next important step in the evolution of the Prime Minister came with the premiership of Reginald Baker, who performed the same role of Rowland – as the de facto head of government when President Robert Mudd passed away unexpectedly. Unlike Adar’s successor Avin, Mudd’s successor, Edward Breckins was a comparatively weak president whose health was ailing and who was all but a novice in Commonwealth politics.

When Baker passed away, Alistair Tetley was elected leader of the Democratic Socialist Party and assumed the Office of the Prime Minister. Tetley took advantage of the weakness of the presidency and held a meeting with president in (year) that resulted in agreement to legislation that would, following Breckins’ term, eliminate the Office of the President and disperse its powers to both the Sovereign and the Prime Minister.

In 2000 Breckins term ended and with it so did the Office of the President, the powers of which were transferred to the Office of the Prime Minister who could now set national policy and direction as well as introduce legislation and set the legislative agenda in addition to advising the Sovereign directly. Importantly, the Sovereign would retain the prerogative to dissolve Parliament, appoint the Prime Minister from a party that would be able to control the House of Commons, and control the military as Commander-in-Chief.

Tetley would introduce the Empire Bill in 2002 that when passed became the Empire Act, which formally dissolved the Commonwealth and reorganised it into its present political configuration of the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, though the change was of no real substantive nature as the delineated powers remained the same.

Those powers, however, came into question when King Michael passed away following the bitterly contested elections of 2005, which saw the House of Commons split nearly in half between the Democratic Socialists and the Conservatives. With the rise of King Andrew to the throne, a new political force entered the political landscape with the King seeking the creation of an absolute monarchy. Andrew subsequently dismissed Tetley, created First Marquess of Salisbury shortly before Michael’s death, and appointed Daniel Collins as Prime Minister, noting the large support he enjoyed as the Conservatives could conceivably form a working coalition.

Lord Salisbury rejected the move and remained within the Citadel, the seat of the Prime Minister, and forced government troops to assault the brick fortress – although with the aid of loyal military units he escaped to Port Elizabeth after defeating the government forces. Within a week, King Andrew and Prime Minister Collins disappeared while en route to peace talks with Salisbury.

With no effective government, Salisbury returned to Imperium and upon consultation with the heir, Prince George, was installed as the third Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under the rule of King George.

Of note in the current political establishment is that the Prime Minister is, for the first time, a member not of the House of Commons but of the House of Lords. Currently, the Conservative leader Benjamin Yorke has only once criticised the Prime Minister for taking a seat in the House of Lords, where in effect he is himself not subject to the public (although the Democratic Socialists claim their party is as a whole.)

As the United Kingdom prepares to reorganize itself once more with the integration of Novikov into the political framework, the UK is set to change its formal title to the United Kingdom of Oceania and with it so will the Prime Minister – who will become formally the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Oceania.

The Office and Its Responsibilities

Unlike the Prime Minister of Great Britain, from the office of which the Oceanic version derives its name, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Oceania is an official position by statute – and the Prime Minister is not bound to hold another portfolio, such as the English First Lord of the Treasury. Much of this fact owes to the original reason for the creation of the office in the Commonwealth: that of passing the President’s (and thereby the Sovereign’s) legislation through Parliament.

Consequently, the Prime Minister retained many of his original duties and responsibilities – as well as gaining several more with the abolition of the Office of the President. Firstly, since the Empire Act, the holder of the office is literally the prime minister to the Sovereign and is thus tasked with forming a government that will pass the Sovereign’s agenda through the House of Commons and the House of Lords. In practice, however, the Prime Minister now also sets the agenda. Again theoretically, the Prime Minister has no more important stature or role in the government than any other minister – although in practice since the mid 20th century dominant Prime Ministers have been the norm.

Also important is the fact that the Prime Minister is not the de jure commander-in-chief of the Royal Armed Services; however, since the mid-20th century the Prime Minister has been the de facto decision maker when it comes to the use of the armed forces. This point was highlighted during the Accession Crisis of 2005-6 when the Royal Army and Royal Air Force remained largely loyal to their proper commander King Andrew; while Lord Salisbury retained the loyalty of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines. The issue has yet to be constitutionally resolved.

Having supplanted the President as the head of government, the Prime Minister is responsible for the governance of the country an executive power within his or her own right as opposed to the Prime Minister’s prior solely legislative concerns. To this end, the Prime Minister now must rebuff critics and the opposition when in session. He or she also hosts foreign dignitaries – unless of course the foreign dignitaries are taking part on a state visit when the Sovereign hosts the foreign head of state.

Terms

The Prime Minister is not bound by statute to serving any fixed set of terms. However, by convention most Prime Ministers during the Commonwealth did not serve more than two consecutive terms. Prime Minister Neville Alexander served two three-year terms and two four-year terms, but not sequentially. In modern practice, Alistair Tetley has somewhat broken such conventions. Upon the death of Prime Minister Reginald Baker in 1997 Tetley assumed the office and finished the term. He was then re-elected in 2000 and again in 2005 for a total of two and a half terms. With the accession of King Andrew, the government of Tetley – by then Lord Salisbury – was dismissed and replaced by Daniel Collins, who served as Prime Minister for a week. Then, upon the deaths of King Andrew and Prime Minister Collins, the new Sovereign, King George, recalled Lord Salisbury to form a new government as the 3rd Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Thusly, Salisbury has served two and a half terms and is set to serve yet a third.

List of Prime Ministers

of the Commonwealth

• Neville Alexander, DSP, 1912-1918
• Harold Young, CP, 1918-1922
• Neville Alexander, DSP, 1922-1930
• Anthony Dunleavy, CP, 1930-1936
• Gerald Hathaway, CP, 1936-1941
• Percival Smith, DSP, 1941-1947
• Niles Rowland, DSP, 1947-1955
• George Gilbraith, DSP, 1955-1961
• Edward Dailey, CP, 1961-1968
• Tobias Grimsley, CP, 1968-1976
• Geoffrey Hedley, CP, 1976-1982
• Violet Clarke, CP, 1982-1990
• Reginald Baker, DSP, 1990-1997
• Alistair Tetley, DSP, 1997-2002

of the United Kingdom

• Alistair Tetley, DSP, 2002-2005
• Daniel Collins, CP, 2005-2006
• Marquess of Salisbury, DSP, 2006-present