Matthew Buckley

The Hon. Matthew John Buckley (b. August 24, 1941) is a Georgeland political figure who was the 21st Chief Minister of Capitalia from 1986 until 1997. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Capitalia in 2005, a past Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party of the United Islands and the current President of the Capitalia Institute for Political Studies in New Kikipolis. He is a candidate for the 2008 Presidential election, announcing his candidacy for the Liberal Democratic nomination on September 10, 2007.

Tania Buckley (married 2004)
 * + Matthew Buckley
 * Position || 21st Chief Minister of Capitalia
 * Term in office || May 19, 1986 - July 24, 1997
 * Preceded by || Frank McLean
 * Succeeded by || Marina Armstrong
 * Political party || Liberal Democrat
 * Total time in office || 11y 3m 5d
 * Born || 24 August 1941
 * Spouse || Elizabeth Buckley (married 1972, divorced 1999)
 * Political party || Liberal Democrat
 * Total time in office || 11y 3m 5d
 * Born || 24 August 1941
 * Spouse || Elizabeth Buckley (married 1972, divorced 1999)
 * Born || 24 August 1941
 * Spouse || Elizabeth Buckley (married 1972, divorced 1999)
 * Spouse || Elizabeth Buckley (married 1972, divorced 1999)
 * Spouse || Elizabeth Buckley (married 1972, divorced 1999)
 * }

Early life and education
Buckley was born in Gateshead, an outer suburb of New Kikipolis, in 1941. His father, James, was an officer in the Georgeland Navy who fought in the Second World War. After the war, Buckley's father became a teacher. Buckley was educated at King's College in New Kikipolis and then at the University of Capitalia, from which he graduated in 1964 with a liberal arts degree. His involvement in politics began at university, where he joined the Labour Party, inspired to liberal politics by the election of John F. Kennedy as U.S. President in 1960. Buckley has said he was personally 'devastated' by Kennedy's assassination.

Rise to power
After some time working in the private sector, as a political staffer and speechwriter and briefly as a journalist, Buckley was selected as the Labour Party's candidate for the state legislature seat of Wickham in 1970. He was elected with 53% of the vote. After entering the legislature, Buckley sat on a number of committees. He was briefly Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport in the government of Glenn Seacombe, but the Seacombe government was defeated only five weeks later. In 1981, Buckley was made the Shadow Minister for Arts and Tourism. That same year, the Arts minister, Stephen Walker, was forced to resign after Buckley's allegations in Parliament that Walker had granted arts funding to his daughter's university without departmental approval. The success earned Buckley a promotion after the 1982 state election to Shadow Minister for Planning, Transport and Urban Services. When opposition leader Nathan Hegelby stood down in October 1983, Buckley was elected to replace him. Buckley was popular as opposition leader, though he was aided by the fact that the first two Conservative Chief Ministers after the party's 1977 election win, Neil Shorrock and Alexander Brophy, had both resigned after financial irregularities. The party had made gains at the 1982 election, and by 1985, Buckley led incumbent Chief Minister Frank McLean by twelve percentage points. At the 1986 state election, Buckley was elected with a majority of seventeen in the state legislature.