Randal Ashton

Randal Ashton is a Member of Parliament in Qumar and was elected leader of the conservative party over Quraen Sheraz in 1996. He was later elected the 6th Prime Minister of Qumar in 2002.

Early Years
Randal Ashton was born in 1958 in Ireland, though his family moved often for his father's work as a businessman. Randal moved to Qumar with his father 2 years after its founding in 1974 and later attended the University of Qumar majoring in political science. At 22 years old, Randal was elected the youngest Mayor of Tunskin City in Qumar. A few years later he was elected to parliament as the youngest member of parliament.

Mayor of Tuskin
Randal was elected Mayor of Tuskin at just 22 years old, only a few months after graduating from the University of Qumar with a political science degree. The city loved him as he'd been involved in several city council elections before his campaign and was well known when he announced his candidacy while still a university candidate. Ashton later revealed that he never expected to win his first race and was shocked when one month from the election the polls started to swing his way. He was seen as an exciting burst of new energy into the city.

Ashton was key in developing the cities major infrastructure, it's own railway, and it's prestigious educational system and he was looked upon highly for this. He was re-elected in 1982 and then retired from the position in 1984 to run for Parliament from the Conservative Party.

Member of Parliament
Tuskin easily elected their favorite mayor in history to parliament in the 1984 Qumar Election. Ashton quickly became very involved in the conservative party's parliamentary movement against the labor party and was determined to help it win the majority in four years. Ashton worked closely with Quraen Sheraz and in parliament the two became good friends over their many lunches when they discussed how to better bash the Labor Party publically and in chamber.

Ashton was a major sponsor of several big pieces of legislation, none of which passed the chamber until the Conservative's victory in the 1988 Qumar election. Ashton secretly got his law degree during his first term in parliament with night classes.

Minister for Justice
Ashton was a good friend of Sheraz's so during Sheraz's cabinet selection, Ashton was appointed Minister of Justice, being one of few Conservative Parliament members with a law degree. Ashton worked hard to get good and long last judges appointed to the bench as Minister for Justice and was often called upon to speak more and more in parliament. Slowly, during the 8 year term of Sheraz, his popularity grew tremendously within the party and he went on to win the Conservative Party 1996 Leadership Election against his friend Sheraz, who considered himself betrayed.

Leader of the Opposition
Ashton became Leader of the Opposition after the Conservative Party lost the 1996 Qumar Election, however, few in the party blamed him for their bad result, even though most pollsters did. Ashton lead consistant attacks on Prime Minister Josh Meceil and received huge number rises in the polls when Josh began failing. Ashton took advantage of his tax hike and lack of a budget and lead a huge nation wide bus campaign slamming the Labor Government. This lead to huge increases in Conservative numbers.

Ashton continued to slam the new Prime Minister Julia Fernan when he could, but had less luck. He still, however, continously experienced large poll numbers and was confident his party could win the 2000 Election and that he would be the next Prime Minister of Qumar. However, a labor national coalition kept him from acheiving this.

Prime Minister of Qumar
Early Days

Following the 2001 Qumar Special Election, Randal Ashton lead the Conservative Party to a huge victory and he became the 6th Prime Minister of Qumar. Ashton took office on January 1st, 2002, and appointed Holly Grant, a former Deputy Prime Minister of Qumar, to be his Deputy Prime Minister once again. Ashton promised the people a much stronger defense policy, however, never delivered.

United States - Qumar Relations

Immediately after taking office Ashton began requesting the US stopped crossing the Qumarian border in the United Nations and with US Government officials, but no one listened. Ashton put more troops on border patrol but made no major efforts to keep the United States out. This caused several riots in the streets of the capitol city, where Ashton used the national guard to keep the peace, something that angered citizens even more. His poll numbers immediately began to plumit.

Economic Downturn

As the world-wide economy began to drop in 2002, Ashton was capable of keeping Qumar out of this by using their oil reserves to continue to create jobs and increase trade. He slowly convinced all the national oil companies to hike their prices together to keep the market uncompetitve and to allow the nation more income for a needed product.

General Williams Scandal

In early 2003, on a national talk show, General Williams, a member of the Joint Chiefs in Qumar, publically began criticizing Ashton for his horrid Defense policies and lack of intense leadership. Ashton had no choice but to fire Williams for public disobedience, but citizens of the nation became quiet displease. Williams continued to talk around the country in speeches about Ashton's horrid term as Prime Minister.

Leadership Attempt, 2003

Members of the Conservative Party continously attempted to take the leadership from Ashton in 2003 due to his failing administration and rapidly declining poll numbers. None of the attempts worked, but, they showed the weakness within his administration and his party.

Cabinet Reshuffle

Following various leadership attempts in 2003, several coming from his own cabinet, Ashton fired several ministers and replaced them with newer members of parliament. While this did please some people and voters, it didn't do much for the administration in the long term.

2004 Qumar Election

Ashton was barely capable of holding on to his party's leadership in 2004, but was not able to win the party the election. Ashton finished off his term as Prime Minister following the party's defeat in the polls.

After PM
Ashton did not continue to serve in Parliament after losing the election and instead retired to be with his family in the countryside.