Frederick Joseph

Frederick Harold Joseph (23th April, 1930, aged 86) is a Rainian politician and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Rainier from 1976 to 1984. He also served as leader of the House of Senators from 1994 to 2008, leader of the National Union Party from 1975-84, leader of the opposition from 1975-6, Minister of the Treasury from 1965-9 and Minister of Industrial Relations from 1962-65. Joseph also represented the constituency of Radyrtown in the House of Councillors from 1961 to 1988 and Keble in the House of Senators from 1988 up until his retirement from politics in 2008.

Born in 1930 the son of a press baron, Joseph became a journalist for the newspaper The Evening Daily in 1955, before his political inclinations moved more rightwards joining the National Union Party in 1956. Joseph attempted to get elected to the House of Councillors in 1956, before being elected for the seat of Radyrtown in 1961.

Joseph established himself as a prominent member of the National Union Party, being appointed as Minister of Industrial Relations by Nicholas Henderson in 1962 and promoted to Minister of the Treasury in 1965 by Henderson on the advice of his Foreign Minister and later Prime Minister Mervyn Pryce, who saw Joseph as his possible successor as National Union leader. Joseph identified with the branch of the party, and as Treasury Minister used price and wage controls to "guide" the economy. However, Joseph came under strong criticism when in 1968 he devalued the Rainian pound, which whilst deemed to be economically necessary was seen as politically damaging to the National Union party, contributing to their defeat in the 1969 election.

Joseph was politically damaged by the devaluation, but his charismatic personality and criticism of the then incumbent Labour government of Emyr Phillips ensured he remained popular within the National Union base. In 1975 he became National Union party leader and in 1976 won the election, becoming Prime Minister.

As prime minister, Joseph was confronted with and a serious  issue. Joseph was the last National Union prime minister to practice, implementing and attempting to reflate the economy. In 1981 he called a snap election, which resulted in his majority to dissapear as he entered into a coalition with the Radical Party. In his second term, he attempted to shift Rainier's energy sources from fossil fuels to nuclear power and start an ambitious infrastructure programme, although these were only partly successful. Joseph did however with much opposition from his own party ended conscription in 1977.

In 1984 Radical Party withdrew from the government after Joseph rescinded from a promise to cut rural subsidies, resulting the 1984 austerity budget to fail to pass through parliament. The Labour party under Matthew Griffiths forced through a against the Joseph government, which saw the government defeated and forced Joseph to call an election. The Labour party won a majority, resulting in Joseph to resign from the position of National Union party leader.

In the 1988 election he retired from the House of Councillors instead running for the Keble constituency for the House of Senators, which he won. Joseph remained prominent and popular within the National Union party, continuing to support one-nation policies despite his successors William Allen's advocacy of neoliberal and neoconservative policies.

Following the National Union Party victory in 1993 under Carwyn Maddock Joseph was appointed Leader of the House of Senators, entitling him to return to cabinet. Joseph served as leader of the House of Senators until the 2008 election, when he announced his retirement from politics. Joseph continues to comment on politics.

Joseph's legacy was largely mixed, with his infrastructure programme and end of conscription being seen as the high points of his premiership. However his stated ambition of ending Rainier's economic malaise and implementing trade union reform failed, and his planned transition from fossil fuels to nuclear energy was only partly implemented, and later scrapped by the Griffiths government. He named the end of as his greatest achievement.