Matthew Griffiths

Nicholas Rowan Halifax (born 16th February 1935, aged 81) is a retired Rainian politician who served as the Minister-President of Rainier from 1978 until 1995, the third longest serving Minister-President to date after Llewelyn Rhodes and Matthew Glyndŵr and the longest serving to come from the Labour Party. Halifax was Labour party between 1976-95 and served in two ministerial roles in the government of Emyr Phillips as Minister of Trade and Industry from 1965-8 and Minister of the Treasury from 1968-71. He was for the constituency of Seattle North from 1960 to his retirement in 1995.

Born into a middle class background, Halifax studied at the in the  in a degree of  before moving back to Rainier to become involved in Labour party politics being elected as a MP for Seattle North in 1960. Halifax was a member of the Labour "Young Turk" MP's in the 1960's, supporting aggressive and, leading to his promotion as Minister of Trade and Industry in 1965. In 1968 in the government of Emyr Phillips he was promoted to the Treasury Ministry where he passed the controversial "Sugar Tax". Between 1969-71 he was engaged in a protracted struggle to devalue the Rainian pound, but backbench opposition led the proposal to be stuck in limbo and helped lead to Labour's loss at the 1971 election. In 1976 Phillips stepped down as Labour party leader, with Halifax elected as his successor with the support of the party's right wing and centre-left.

In 1978 the coalition government of the National Union and Farmers' parties collapsed after the economy entered a long period of, leading to a House of Councillors election. Discontent with the coalition government led Halifax and the Labour party to be elected to a majority government on a avowedly manifesto, with Halifax becoming Minister-President.

In his first term Halifax used orthodox to deal with the recession - whilst this led to the short lived "Baker Boom" between 1980-2  remained high as the Halifax government was unwilling to adopt  economic reforms, fearing it would heighten unemployment and lead to tensions between the Labour party and their affiliated trade unions. Halifax won the 1983 election with a one seat majority and a stronger, more confident opposition. Halifax was re-elected to a third majority government in 1987 with Labour's best result since 1960. In his second and third terms as Minister-President Halifax moved to the right, pursing economic reform privatising state owned industries, dismantling tariffs, and cut state subsidies emulating the British  of  and Australian  of. Halifax however did not cut social welfare nor pass trade union reform, instead championing.

During his second term Halifax began a policy with the  after the death of, although his was unsuccessful in his goal to cut funding to. Halifax also expanded ties with the as well as supporting the Rainian military bases in  and maintaining the special relationship with the United Kingdom. Halifax was criticised by both the Rainian-Israeli lobby for his repudiation of the pro-Zionist policies of his predecessors and links with. A critic of American Unionism, Halifax throughout his term had frosty relations with the Conference of American States opposing in his second and third terms.

Between his second and third terms as Minister-President Rainier enjoyed a period of economic growth and prosperity as a more confident middle class. However, his administration was weakened when in 1990 following Halifax's declaration that Rainier would involve itself in the that it was made public that Rainier had sold materials used to manufacture chemical weapons to Iraq via  during the. The Baghdad Scandal resulted in the Halifax government to gain an image of corruption which had built up over the years. As well as this, whilst expanding the financial and service industries the Halifax government oversaw a rapid decline in industry which weakened the traditional Labour voting base which resulted in the Labour party to lose its majority and enter a coalition with the Radical Party.

The fourth term of the Halifax government thanks to the influence of the Radical Party resulted in the reform process to be accelerated, with the government implementing a series of welfare cuts, more expansive privatisation (including within the health sector) and attempts to pass trade union reform, which alienated Labour supporters. There was significant tensions within the coalition with the Ameroskepticism of Halifax and the Americanism of the Radical Party and centrist Labour MP's. With more corruption scandals being unearthed, his confrontational style becoming increasingly grating in the eyes of the public, the tensions within the government over the CAS and the economic reforms antagonising traditional Labour supporters when Halifax led the Labour Party into the 1995 House of Councillors election the Labour Party suffered its worst defeat ever, with Halifax stepping down both as Labour leader and MP shortly afterwards, declining a request to be appointed to the senate.

Although he intended to retire from politics permanently after the 1995 election, Halifax soon became a sharp critic of the government of Carwyn Maddock, accusing it of social elitism and being one of the leading Rainian critics of the. Halifax currently serves as an adviser to the.

Halifax's legacy is complex, being widely seen as amongst the most influential of the post-war Rainian Minister-Presidents. The Halifax government oversaw the neolibralisation of the Rainian economy as well as a less American-focused foreign policy. The economic changes made under Halifax however brought divisive social change in Rainier that is controversial to this day, and under his rule corruption and crime increased. Halifax is credited with moving the Labour party to a more centrist position and adapting to a more globalised world, but is criticised for his virulent Ameroskepticism and rejection of NAFTA. In a survey carried out in 2014 he ranked as ninth in the "100 greatest Rainians" and is considered by academic to be one of the best Minister-Presidents of Rainier.