Lawrence Porter

The Hon. Lawrence John Porter, MP (b. May 17, 1950) is a Georgeland politician, born in Mauritius. He was appointed to be Georgeland's Minister for Foreign Affairs in November 2006 following the retirement of Charlotte LeBeau. Previously, Porter had been Minister for Home Affairs, and had also in the past held the positions of Minister for Defence and Minister for Industrial Relations. He is a Member of the Georgeland House of Commons, representing the seat of Dance since March 2005. He is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party of the United Islands. Born in Port Louis, Mauritius, as Laurent-Jean Poolamuth to a native Mauritian father and a French consular official, Porter and his family arrived in Georgeland in May 1964 and settled in Doubledance. Porter is one of nine siblings. Porter's father changed the family name shortly to 'Porter' shortly after their arrival in order to acclimatise. The family were initially quite well-off, but in 1967 Porter's father died and his mother was forced to work a second job to support her family. In 1968 Porter abandoned plans to go to university and began working on a construction site. He later became a factory worker, which began his association with the union movement. In 1971 he became a union delegate, and in 1978 was elected to be the representative to Mainland's trade union conference, where he impressed delegates with his authoritative speaking style and personal charisma. In 1982, Porter formally joined the Labour Party after having flirted with them for years. The same year, he began studying part-time at the University of Mainland, reading law and economics. He gained his degree in both in 1990. In 1987, Porter was selected as a Senate candidate for the Labour Party at the upcoming election, and was elected. He took his seat on January 1, 1988. Porter was only the second black member of the Senate and the fourth black person elected to Parliament. Porter was the only black Senator for the entirety of his Senate career. Porter served on a number of policy committees and became known as a maverick, particularly on issues of industrial relations. Porter was heavily identified with the party's Left-wing. In 1994 he was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Security, a position he lost in 1995 when Labour lost office. Upon the election of the Rhodes government in 1995, Porter returned to his Parliamentary Secretary Position. He voluntarily relinquished that job in 1996 in order to take on the position of Chairman of the House Committee on Workplace Relations (ministers and parliamentary secretaries cannot serve on committees). In 1998 he was appointed as Minister for Tourism, an appointment criticised in some sectors because he had shown no interest in tourism policy. In the Labour split of 1999, brought on by the Left faction's overthrow of Campbell Rhodes as leader, Porter sided against his own faction and joined Rhodes' new Liberal Party, becoming its Industrial Relations spokesman during the election, as well as spokesman for Transport and Energy. After the Liberals won power at the Second Georgeland legislative election, 1999, Porter became Minister for Industrial Relations, a job he had desired for more than a decade. Porter served in his ministerial job for three years and attracted some acclaim from the media, who began to see Porter as a viable party leader. In 2000, when Rhodes was replaced by Michael Elderton, Porter retained his job and retained it again when Rhodes regained the leadership a year later. In August 2001, Porter was appointed as the Liberal Party's deputy leader in the Senate, though the post of Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate remained with Warren Barker, a Democrat. On November 4, 2002, shortly after the recent election, Porter was named as Minister for Defence following the resignation of Sarah Atwater over the leaking of defence information to the press. He took on her role as Leader of the Government of the Senate as well. Porter's term as Minister of Defence was marked by a move away from the purchase of ex-Soviet military equipment and into European marketplaces. In 2004, with an election imminent, Porter sought to move from the Senate to the House of Commons. He sought the Liberal Democratic preselection for the seat of Dance, in inner Doubledance, when the sitting MP decided not to contest re-election. He was easily chosen by his local party. At the election, Porter was elected to the seat with a slightly decreased majority, though the swing was less than in many other government seats. In the post-election reshuffle, Porter was made Minister for Home Affairs - this was seen by many as a demotion. Porter continued in this role after Zoe Parker became Prime Minister in July 2005. In November 2006, Porter was appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs, effectively becoming the fifth-most-senior member of Cabinet. Porter is seen by many as a potential Liberal Democratic Party leader. He has been speculated as a leadership candidate several times, most notably in 2005 after Campbell Rhodes announced his retirement. Porter opted not to run, instead endorsing fellow Broad Leftist Clare Price, the Health Minister, and later supporting Zoe Parker. He was seen as the leading candidate to replace Parker as Deputy Prime Minister; the position went to Tom McCully, speculated as a reward for his orchestration of the government's re-election campaign. He remains a contender for any future leadership contests. Porter speaks fluent French and Mauritian Creole, and is passably fluent in German and Portuguese. When speaking English, Porter still has a notable accent; this has enhanced, rather than detracted from, his charismatic image and imposing stature. At six foot five inches (193 cm), Porter is the tallest member of federal Parliament. Porter married his wife June in 1985; the couple have three children.