Harold Wanton

Harold Wanton
General Secretary of the 1st Organisations Committee
assumed office 12/02/21
Predecessor	Office established
Successor	Incumbent
Member of Parliament for Ryhope
assumed office 07/03/21
Successor	Incumbent
Born	Durham, United Kingdom
Citizenship	Northumbrian British
Political party	Socialist Party
Other political affiliations	Socialist League (2018) Republican Party (2018-2020)
Residence	Sherburn Village
Religion	Agnostic
Military service
Allegiance	Socialist League
Service/branch	Sherburn Workers Council
In service	2018

Alias

It is a political norm in Sorrenia to adopt an alias, utilising a pseudonym and alternative portrait. Harold's portrait is that of Ramsey MacDonald, the first Labour Party politician to become Prime Minister.

War of the Sorrenian Succession

Harold is a veteran of the War of the Sorrenian Succession, having served as a leading figure in the Socialist League. Leading the Sherburn division of the League, Wanton managed to capture central-east Durham and briefly held the old Sorrenian capital of Levaria before the League was beaten back by a coalition of monarchists, conservatives and centrists. The Royal Army of Sorrenia was able to capture Levaria and force League troops - including Harold - back to their stronghold in Bowburn.

While head of the Bowburn division, Adam Scargill, called for a mass retreat to Horden, Harold secretly met with members of the Royal Army and secured an amnesty deal wherein he and all those who left the Socialist League were granted a full pardon and were guaranteed the right to participate in future Sorrenian politics. Harold's decision to accept an amnesty deal was controversial - though a majority of members joined him, a loyal group fled to Horden with Scargill, who called Harold a "traitor to the cause"; this supposed betrayal alienated much of the Sorrenian far-left from Harold.

Sorrenian career

Formation of the Republican Party (April 2018 - November 2018)

Harold spearheaded the creation of the Republican Party which represented the majority split of the Socialist League and who followed Harold in accepting amnesty. From its creation the Republicans emphasised their descent from the highly successful Sorrenian Workers Party despite a lack of membership overlap. Harold himself had no prior experience in party organisation, but thanks to his leadership of the Sherburn branch of the Socialist League and his mediation of the amnesty deal, Harold was voted overwhelmingly by founders of the party to become its first chairman.

From the outset Harold's own political ideals were enshrined within the Republican Party's constitution, with the party envisaged as one of revolutionary aspirations with pragmatic sense. The party had immediate success, winning seats in Sorrenia's south and east. After the Great Expansion, the Republicans also naturally appealed to working-class populations in urban areas such as Newcastle, Sunderland and Teesside.

Prime Minister (November 2019 - January 2020)

By the 6th of April, Harold formed The Republicans, a left-wing political party agitating for an abolition of the Sorrenian monarchy. The party attracted widespread support, especially in Sorrenia's south and east. Upon the Great Expansion, The Republicans also naturally appealed to working-class populations, especially in urban areas such as Newcastle, Sunderland and Teesside.

As a result, The Republicans became the joint largest party. Harold displayed a form of republicanism distinctly reminiscent of the Sorrenian Federation (although he was never a citizen), and largely ignored other issues in his early chairmanship of the party.

The return of Martin Aquinas, previously the President of Sorrenia for a total of four terms came as a blow to Harold's dominating role in the party. After just several days of Aquinas' return, Harold voluntarily resigned and Martin was elected Chairman.

Nonetheless, Harold remained a key figure in the party and worked closely with Martin, helping to create the party manifesto for the June 2018 election.

By 2018, Martin had largely become alienated from The Republicans; whereas Harold maintained a strictly republican stance, Martin sought to modernise the party and create some form of moderate republicanism. In the November party assembly, Harold was able to control manifesto creation, and so helped to create a far-left party platform that remained supportive of a return to the Sorrenian Federation. As a result, Martin Aquinas resigned the party leadership and joined the NDLP; Harold once again became party chairman without opposition.

Aquinas' resignation harmed the party electorally. King Ronald I called a general election, in part to make use of the weakness of The Republicans. The party lost Bowburn, South Shields and Whitley Bay, although they gained Chester-le-Street and Seaham. Nonetheless, the election was seen as a loss, with The Republicans losing previously reliable seats.

Most embarrassingly, they lost Bowburn which had never opposed a left-wing party either in the Kingdom or the Federation - this was due to Martin Aquinas' personal support in the county, but it nonetheless came as a shock to Harold and The Republicans.

Amidst some calls for resignation, Harold vowed to remain party chairman, and urged for an internal focus on reconciliation, to prevent the already developed internal factions from splitting off into new political parties.

The Republicans sought to secure a coalition government with the NDLP, who had won 12 seats - only 1 less than both The Republicans and the New Monarchists.

Although the party leadership expressed confidence that the coalition would be agreed upon, the NDLP ultimately chose to enter into government with the New Monarchists, resigning The Republicans once again to opposition.

Policies and views

Harold considers himself a "steadfast socialist", embracing a form of democratic socialism which emphasises the need to fundamentally change the economic mode of production but through democratic and parliamentary means. Despite avoiding factional politics within the Republican and Socialist parties, Harold has tended to associate with more moderate socialists while often retaining views which align him with the more radical factions.

During his Sorrenian political career, Harold was a staunch republican and refused to remove a commitment to the abolition of the monarchy and a return of the Sorrenian Federation from the constitution of the Republican Party. Today, Harold calls himself a republican "in principle, less-so in practice", suggesting that the general lack of political power held by the Northumbrian monarch makes republicanism a peripheral issue. He has on occasion however called for a reduction in the power of the aristocracy and the clergy.

Harold was a Northumbrianist who sought to integrate more elements of Northumbrian culture into Sorrenia. He is often described as a 'Socialist Northumbrianist' as he places additional emphasis on Sorrenia's industrialist and trade unionist history, especially Durham's mining heritage.

Harold has usually avoided being too heavily associated with a particular faction within either the Republican or the Socialist party. Despite representing the moderate offshoot of the Socialist League, Harold was a stalwart believer in republicanism and staved off other reformists who wanted to abandon abolition of the monarchy as a key belief of the Sorrenian left. During the internal disputes with Michelle Livennson and the far-left of the party, Harold was labelled a centre-left figure who preferred working with other Sorrenian parties compared to his own party's far-left faction. His removal of Livennson and other radicals from the Cabinet led to his dismissal as Party Chairman through a vote of no confidence.

Along with Martin Aquinas and Alastair Song, Harold is often considered one part of a triumvirate present within the Socialist Party. He has steadily aligned himself with more moderate members of the party, supported motions to allow prior members of the National Democratic Party to join and helped block several motions to include a commitment to republicanism within the party's constitution.