Prime Minister Lord Kauvin

"Courage is knowing what not to fear"
- Prime Minister Lord Kauvin

Kauvin Charles George Mountbatten Rio, 4th Duke of Leicester, known by courtesy title of 'Duke of Leicester' and popularly known as Lord Kauvin, is a British politician, hereditary peer, writer and retired army officer who is currently serving as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019. He is the second youngest Prime Minister of Great Britain in history, just behind William Pitt the Younger. He is also the youngest person in history to become the Leader of the Conservative Party.

Early Life

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Kauvin was born in Bernwood Palace in Alestone, a civil parish and a village, which falls under the jurisdiction of Lancashire County, as the third child, youngest child and the only son of Lord Herbert and his wife Lady Candille. He was born to the highly influential Rio family. His great grandfather was Herbert Rio, 1st Duke of Leicester, was a famous General and one of the Commanders of British Expeditionary Force during the World War I. His grandfather Charles Rio, 2nd Duke of Leicester, was a prominent politician who had served as a Member of Parliament for over 20 years. His great-grandfather the 10th Earl of Leicester was a leader of the Conservative Party and came close to becoming the Prime Minister but died before he could assume the post. His father Herbert Rio is also a politician and served as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 2006 to 2009. At the time of his birth Herbert William Rio was still the Earl Craborne and the heir apparent to the Dukedom of Leicester. Six years after he was born, his father became the Duke of Leicester in 1988. Just a few days later Kauvin, who was still a 6 year old boy, was declared the heir apparent.

As a young boy, Kauvin was educated at home by private tutors, before he was sent off to Sunningdale School. Thereafter Kauvin attended Eton College. Despite not being a very bright student, he excelled in sports, especially cricket and was a voracious reader of classics. His tutor, William Ashton Cowder, remarked that he had a great grip over the Greek language and was devoted to reading classics. He played cricket for his school side and wrote poetry during his time in the school. However his lack of interest in formal studies greatly annoyed his parents, and he was subjected to occassional beatings by his mother. In his final year, Kauvin captained his school's cricket team during the annual Eton vs Harrow cricket match.

After completing his schooling, Kauvin Rio enrolled in Christ Church, Oxford. In Oxford University too, Kauvin devoted more time to sports like cricket, horseracing and polo, and as a result his studies suffered. He played 4 first-class cricket matches for the Oxford University team and received sporting blues for cricket and polo. During his university time, he was a member of several private member's clubs like the Bullingdon Club and the Vincent's Club. He was also briefly a member of the Oxford University Conservative Association, although he later lamented that he found it "boring" and left the association after just a year of being a member. Despite his average grades, Kauvin nevertheless passed out of Oxford in 1998 with a BA degree in Medieval History. During and after his time in Oxford, he was a member of the 'Oxford Circle' a social and intellectual group, made up of fellow aristocratic Oxford students.

Following the family tradition, he entered the Royal Military College Sandhurst to embark on a career in the armed forces. After passing out of it, he subsequently entered the British Army and served there for 4 years, rising to the rank of Captain, before retiring to enter politics. While his stay in the army he saw action in the small town of St. Edgar where he was posted along with a few soldiers of the 14th Warwickshire Regiment of the British Ground Forces. He and his army were attacked by armed men of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a designed terrorist organisation. He was able to hold on till reinforcements arrived, killing 7 terrorists, and loosing 5 men in the process. This fight was dramatised in his novella 'The Lifeless'.

Rise in Politics

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While he was still serving in the army, Kauvin decided to enter into politics. In the General Elections of 2001, he was selected as a Conservative candidate in the relatively safe seat of Putney. Although his campaign was marred by Kauvin's repeated controversial comments, he narrowly defeated the Labour candidate and was elected. It was the year 2001. But in the very next general elections a mere four years later, Kauvin lost his seat to the Labour candidate Lord Grantchester. He later stated that the shock of losing the seat, forced him to retire from the army and take his political career more seriously.

Another chance to enter the Parliament came in the year 2006, when the abrupt resignation of Lord Landsowne in the seat of East Derby triggered a bye-election. Kauvin competed as the Conservative candidate and won comfortably this time. During his first tenure in the parliament, Kauvin was just 24 years old, making him one of the youngest peer to sit in the House of Lords at that moment. He used his family influence to steadily rise the ranks of the Conservative Party. He retained his seat during the subsequent general elections. Although he was hated by the then Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Sir David Jones because of his family's titles, he got extensive support of the other peers and the members of the landed gentry who were worried by Sir David's rise. Kauvin was made the First Lord of Admiralty, during which he lobbied for increasing the funds to the Royal Navy and oversaw the construction of HMS Prince of Wales, a Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier. He was also a strong proponent of the indigenisation of the Fleet Naval Arm.

In 2015, Kauvin's father suffered a nasty fall and was paralysed. As a result, Herbert abdicated his dukedom (which became legally possible after the Hereditary Titles Abdication Act of 1976) as he was unable to perform the traditional tasks expected of a duke, after his paralysis. The title subsequently passed onto Kauvin who became the 4th Duke of Leicester succeeding his father who was the 3rd Duke. Herbert became the Duke Emeritus of Leicester. Herbert however managed to recover fully by 2022.

On the other hand, in the domestic circuit, Sir David Jones initiated a range of reforms as a part of his Irish Autonomy program which, although not giving any significant powers to the Irish farmers, greatly reduced the power of the English and Scottish landowners as much of the power went to the local Irish landowners and peers. This was greatly opposed by the peers and the gentry who had estates in Irish countryside.

Another point where Sir David Jones and Kauvin Rio clashed is the issue of the Land Reforms for Ireland. The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), lead by Michael Higgins who served as the First Minister of Ireland for 18 years, had become one of the major proponent of The Irish Land Reforms and further decentralisation, which stated that all the remaining Irish agricultural lands must be taken away from the absentee landlords and redistributed among the villagers of Ireland and also that the Northern Irish government should be given greater powers regarding land use patterns. Ireland, which was forcefully incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1799, had been a source of almost continuous violence and calls for either self rule or complete independence. The IPP was one of the first parties to use parliamentary democracy to push forward their demands of Irish Home Rule. Following the armed campaign by the IRA in the years 1919 to 1923, Ireland was divided, with the independent Irish Republic in the South and Ireland (unofficially called Northern Ireland) in the North. While Irish Republic became a separate realm, Ireland continues to be a part of the United Kingdom to this day. But the Northern half has more devolution than the rest of the country, with a separate parliament and a First Minister to manage the domestic affairs of the region.

The Labour Party and the Liberals usually supported the land reforms put forward by the IPP and it was the Labour Prime Minister Gordon Bamford(who came to power via a Liberal-Labour coalition), successfully led a string of land reforms, taking away lands from the foreign based businessmen and distributing it among the Irish farmers, while also trying to provide them agricultural equipments like fertilisers at low prices. All the earlier Labour governments too allowed Ireland to administrate their domestic affairs themselves with little interference from the center. Hence the IPP had almost always allied with the Liberals and the Labour during the general elections and played a huge role in helping the Bamford to retain his seat.

These demands of Land Reforms were however was largely refused by the Conservative Party who believed that Ireland was legitimately a part of the United Kingdom and needed no separate Home Rule. However, their position cost them dearly as the IPP became the largest party in Ireland and started playing a key role in the General Elections.

Sir David, who was a moderate Tory and a centrist, brokered a deal with Eoin Mulcahy, the hand picked successor of Higgins and son of former First Minister Seamus Mulcahy, that if Sir David comes to power he will continue the policy of the Labour of appointing a Catholic Lord Lieutenant and allowing decentralisation policies of the Liberal government to continue. In return, the IPP will refuse to ally with the Lib-Lab coalition and will fight separately. Mulcahy agreed to this deal, partly because Higgin's resignation and the subsequent conflict over his position had split the IPP and the ensuring chaos greatly reduced their number of votes. However those votes were still critical for the Coalition government of the Labour Party and the Liberals to form a minority government. Sir David's proposal worked wonders as the Lib-Lab coalition was forced out of power and the Conservatives were elected back with a slight majority. In spite of some opposition within his own party, a majority of the Conservatives agreed with his decision which also included Kauvin. At that time, the PM Sinclair was close to Kauvin, and once even called him his designated "successor". However things began to take a drastic turn following the 2014 general elections. Sir David Jones first term's humongous success in preventing a devastating war from breaking out between Russia and Ukraine enhanced his reputation. He also defeated the Ugandan invaders during the Kenyan war and gave partial self-government to the colony of British Central Africa. This made his reputation soar, and the Conservatives won in a landslide in the 2014 elections. In that elections too the deal between IPP and Conservative continued. However this election suddenly increased calls within the Conservative Party to remove the privileges bestowed on Ireland, because they felt that the Tories were more than capable enough to win elections all by themselves. Sir David refused this proposal and a major split occurred within the party between those who supported the deal and those who were against it. Kauvin, with his brilliant skill of oratory and his right wing views, slowly became one of the major leaders of the anti-deal faction. This lead to an increasing rivalry between Jones and Kauvin. Also, Kauvin got the support of the nobles and several rich businessmen and landowning voters in the party who owned property in Ireland and were hurt by the deal. He was also supported by the DUP and the Irish Protestant minority leaders.

After Sir David Jones tried to undermine Kauvin's influence by promoting his protege, Harold Smith, he faced an unprecedented amount of protests from the nobles of the party and those MPs who belonged to the right wing of the political consensus. Humiliated, Jones was forced to make Kauvin The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the year 2017, and he stepped down from the Party leadership before the 2019 elections. Kauvin was elected as the new Leader of the Party, and lead the Party to victory in that election against the Lib-Lab coalition, lead by Ian Rawlinson. Kauvin became the new Prime Minister of Great Britain. Immediately he revoked the Deal with the IPP and elected a new Protestant Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. One of his first jobs as the Prime Minister was to re-introduce private ownership of agricultural lands in certain parts of agricultural Ireland by rich landowners who were neither based in Ireland, nor were they Catholics or of Irish ethnicity. England and Scotland based rich businessmen and landowners flourished under this new system. However he hasn't completely eradicated the common ownership of lands throughout Ireland, out of the fear that such a drastic step will have repercussions for the British economy at large. After a year of coming to power, Kauvin launched the 'Operation Pushback', a major counter-insurgency operation in British Sudan. After such domestic issues, Kauvin decided to focus his attention on international affairs. He became more aggressive in his approach, crushing descents in overseas colonies and fighting with other European powers over colonies in Africa.

Leadership

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Kauvin belongs to the right of the political compass. Lord Kauvin is widely regarded as one of the most powerful Prime Minister in the British history. Under him, widespread administerial reforms has been carried throughout the entire country. He has strengthened the bureaucracy, centralised the government, and has also improved the healthcare facilities. He also initiated a purge of Irish nationalists and his handling of the Ireland issue is undoubtedly authoritarian. Noted Irish nationalist activists such as John O' Donnor and Elizabeth Hutchinson have been arrested on arbitrary charges and sentenced to long term prison sentences. He also intervened militarily whenever conflicts flared up in Ireland was behind the notorious killing of Irish nationalist revolutionary Richie O'Connell and suppressing Irish nationalist activities.

In the domestic regard, he championed the welfare state and declared his intention to create a 'paternal state'. His administration renationalised the coal industry and re-established Coal UK. He has further taken steps to regulate businesses. His economic policy has a strong 'Britain First' approach. For example, his administration blocked Google's attempt to buy DeepMind and he personally threatened to nationalise the company if it was sold to foreign companies. He increased funding for the NHS and the BAO, along with the defense budget. But he has been criticised for failing to avert the ongoing housemarket crisis in the country. Several environmentalists have also criticised his plans to scrap the net zero pledge by 2025.

His foreign policy is much more hostile and interventionist than his predecessor. However, crime rates too has increased steadily under his rule, so has corruption and nepotism. Human rights organizations and activists accuse Kauvin of his hard handling of the Murland issue. He has also been criticised for his aggressive conservatism, and for ignoring the conditions of the working class people, in favor of the upper class elites and richer businessman, actors, politicians, etc. His supporters call him one of the most efficient and greatest Prime Minister in the British history, while his critics consider him to be an authoritarian conservative.

Lord Kauvin is also an out-spoken supporter of British colonisation and imperialism. Immediately after coming to power, Kauvin has launched several colonial wars in Asia and Africa, most notably the costly and on-going Mahdist War.

Because of his policies, political theorists have labelled his ideology as 'right wing elitism', in contrast to right wing populism.

For & Against

• For: Monarchism, Conservatism, High Toryism, Democracy, Limited Authoritarianism, strong and centralised administration,
  creation of a welfare state, Imperialism, Colonialism

• Against: Communism, Fascism, Republicanism, Liberalism, Laissez Faire economics, Anti-Semitism, Racism

Public Image

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Lord Kauvin is widely known for his flamboyancy, irreverence and traditionalist attitude. He has been widely described as a conviction politician and was a highly rebellious MP during the rule of his predecessor Sir David Jones. His eccentricities during his early political career and his open flaunting of his privileged status have created an unique political image surrounding him.

Rio's attitude and overall public persona has drawn comparisons with former MP Alan Clark. He has time and again embraced such comparisons. Kauvin once called Clark 'his political mentor and hero'.

Personal Information

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Lord Kauvin is notorious for his womanizing. Although he was married twice, he had always had a large number of mistresses and his sexual adventures have often scandalized the upper class society. He enjoyed relationships with several high profile women, and it is rumored that he has fathered an illegitimate child with his former mistress, the actress Mary. During his Oxford years, he was a member of the exclusive Bulingdon Club. He married twice. His first marriage to Sophie, his childhood sweetheart, ended in disaster. He divorced her in 2007, childless. Later, he married Lady Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the 11th Earl of Bavon and the celebrated beauty and socialite, in 2014 and has fathered 5 children with her. He is also rumored to have several other illegitimate children with a large number of women. Kauvin is a self declared sports addict. During his schooldays he played cricket for Eton and was a distinguished player. He captained Eton in the Eton vs Harrow cricket match in Lords, which Eton won.

His friends and relatives describe him as loving and caring. His former personal assistant, George White, however has claimed that he is hot tempered and gets easily gets angry. Lord Kauvin is also a noted writer. During his high school days he was a member of the Poetry Club in Eton and later during his time in Oxford, he wrote a mediaeval novel called 'The Silent River'. This made him the third Galimencia Prime Minister who has a published fiction work to his name. He has written another semi-fictional novella 'The Lifeless' and has also written several non fiction books, including a historical book on the founding of his favourite football club Tottenham and an historical work on the Ashes cricket series. Lord Kauvin was also a regular contributor to several newspapers before his Premiership. He is the captain of the Duke's XI cricket team and is also a keen footballer and golfer. Some rough estimates claim that his personal net worth is over 2 billion pounds.

Personal Trivia

Quotes

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“When you do not have a roof over your head, human rights become luxury”

“Europeans still need to govern Africa, as the natives are not capable of governing themselves”

“We shall fight to the last man, and to the last inch of that goddamned land in Africa!”

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