Apples

Apples Clarke (born February 13, 1977) is a Dogger politician serving as the leader and founder of the Humanist Center, minister of Education, Families and Equalities, member of the National Assembly of Doggerland and the Deputy Thwomp of the Thwompist group. He has served as a member of the Grand Brun-South Assembly, minister of Rural Development and Infrastructure in Brun-South and as junior counsellor in the Executive Council of Brun-South. He's a member of the Humanist Center and the Labour Union of Brun-South.

Early Life
Apples Clarke was born on February 13, 1977 in Tweldem, Brun-South to a middle class family. He later moved to Nandels Port to continue his studies.

Grand Brun-South Assembly
Clarke joined the Labour Union of Brun-South after graduating and helped organize local events such as rallies in support of the People's Freedom and Justice Party during elections. He was a strong advocate for workers' rights and blamed the deteriorating economic situation in the province on the incumbent governor and his administration. After years of grassroots organising he signed up to the party list of the PFJP alliance as a member of the Labour Union of Brun-South and was accepted. He was elected to the Grand Brun-South Assembly on April 29, 2006, becoming the youngest member at just 29 years old. In the assembly he was a big opponent of the incumbent administration but wasn't afraid of trying to work across the aisle. Considering the majority the government had in the chamber he was left little choice besides it anyway. During his time in the assembly he was able to pass the "Workers' Preservation Act", a bill sponsored by him, by working with the liberal members of the incumbent alliance. This was his proudest achievement yet and got him a wave of support all around Brun-South because he never stopped campaigning. The incumbent governor wildly opposed the newly passed act which brought him a lot of unpopularity, culminating with him losing his council seat after the 2010 election.

Minister of Rural Development and Infrastructure
A new governor was elected from the National Conservative Party, the Civic Union equivalent in Brun-South. Perhaps because Apples was working with the government or perhaps because he thought the young MP would have less power outside the assembly the governor appointed him minister of Rural Development and Infrastructure. He took office on May 11, 2010. In this position Clarke worked to narrow the gap between urban and rural development in the province. He worked on infrastructure projects to connect rural Brent-South with its urban areas. This stagnated the economy but ended up improving living conditions and developing areas which lacked any investment. He worked on a land reform made to improve the standards of farmers but it was shot down in the Grand Brun-South Assembly after being voted down 94 to 122 on March 9, 2013. During his time as minister he remained popular and campaigned for the Labour Union and the People's Freedom and Justice Party as a whole. This led to problems between him and new governor Jeremiah Meligston of the Union Party after his election in 2014. Meligston and Apples never liked each other but were getting along for the sake of work, however, when the governor heard that Clarke was working on a new land reform, two years after his previous project failed, he sacked him. Apples left the Rural Development ministry on August 6, 2015.

Executive Council of Brun-South


Having just recently been kicked out of the position of minister, Clarke used this time to further his popularity and support for him. He decided to run for Counsellor of the Executive Council of Brun-South in the 2016 election. Apples ran to represent his home district of Greater western Tweldem. He ended up winning the race in the 2016 Brun-South counsellor election in Greater western Tweldem but was unable to replace the incumbent governor since progressives had very little support in the body. During his term in the council he opposed Meligston and most of his policy but was unable to stop much of it because of the limited power of the council. He used most of the time to campaign and grass roots organise against government counsellors. His efforts were successful when more progressives were elected to the body in 2018 and 2020. The then chief counsellor and close ally to Apples David Ledgnot of the Social Democratic Union was elected governor, replacing Jeremiah Meligston after 2 liberal counsellors who would normally have supported the incumbent decided to back him due to Meligston's unpopularity. Clarke pushed the new governor to establish Thwomp representation in Brun-South, through executive act if needed. His request was accepted by Ledgnot who later signed the Thwompist Rights executive act. Apples' support was vital for keeping the government stable but he decided to run for the National Assembly of Doggerland after he found a popular replacement for him in the council. Ciara Walda, a union organizer who Apples endorsed for his seat, won her election to the council after the 2021 Brun-South counsellor special election in Greater western Tweldem.

Doggerland's Left
He was elected to the National Assembly of Doggerland on March 28, 2021 following the March 2021 Doggerland legislative elections as member of the Doggerland Left party with which he registered to run. He didn't do much during his time besides voting for bills. He was also pretty absent between conversations from within the party.

Populist Party


He later decided to quit the partisanship of the DL and join the Populist Party as a founding member after being approached by Robert La Follette. Apples thought he will have more influence as a member of the Populist Party in the assembly and be able to more easily work with other assembly members. This however, didn't last long since La Follette passed away 3 days after the founding of the party leading to the its disbandment.

Labour Workers' Party
Apples followed the other former populist party members to the Labour Workers' Party. He supported Theodor Robert "Trashman" Mann's candidacy for leader of the party and Arjun The Great's candidacy for deputy leader after he was approached by Arjun The Great. Arjun easily defeated other challengers and Mann too won his race, partly due to his support, but there was major fraud discovered. Incumbent leader Melvin John "Mel" Bradley had tampered with the results to increase his vote share but his efforts failed. Apples stayed out of it, however, due to the chaos in the party the LWP ended up losing many seats during the April 2021 Doggerland legislative elections making Apples barely be left out of the assembly as he was put 10th on the party list and the party received just 9 seats. Apples re entered the assembly following the May 2021 Doggerland legislative elections as a member of the LWP. He voted against Saber Pardon's premiership but he was confirmed prime minister with the narrow majority of 2. Many LWP members left the party in favour of joining the Volt+Pirates Party. This led Apples to also leave the LWP but join the Communist Party.

Defection
After many of his fellow LWP MPs voted for the formation of the Liberal Government and proceeded to defect to a government friendly party, Apples left the LWP for the Communist Party which he thought is more stable and consistent. His defection was met with surprise, as he was the only person to defect from the LWP to a more leftist organisation. Overall his defection didn't lead to much since both the DCP and the LWP were in opposition to the government.

Work as DCP Member
During his time in the national assembly as a Communist MP, Apples has done the exact opposite of what was expected from a defecting LWP to CP member. He started advocating and himself working towards further co operation with the liberal led government. Apples worked on many amendments which made bills reach the middle ground between the political parties in Doggerland and broaden their support. Clarke has worked closely with other opposition parties and is a big critic of the May budget released by the government. Apples is the author of the compromise revisited REST Act which sees to keep the fundamental values of the original while making it acceptable to the governing parties advocating for the repeal of the entire bill. Heiligerhahn was able to bring government leaders to the negotiating table regarding the act, even though both him and Apples were sceptical at first if the government will consider a compromise solution. Apples supported Rune's run for the presidency during the May 2021 Doggerland presidential election.

Deputy Thwomp of the Thwompist Group
On May 30th, 2021 Apples was awarded the title of Deputy Thwomp of the Thwompist Group by Theodore Wheatley for his efforts to further the Thwompist movement. Apples was honoured to accept the position and pledged to continue his unconditional support for Thwompist rights.

Humanist Center Leader
On June 1st, Apples left the DCP and formed the Humanist Center because of dissatisfaction with the increased partisanship. He called for unity and pledged that the governing coalition which will emerge after the elections will have his and the HC's full support to maintain stability.

3rd Term as Member of National Assembly
At the opening of the National Assembly Apples supported Vikingz' nomination for speaker alongside Avery's and Pepe's nominations for deputy speakers. He voted for the Fire with Fire Bill. He also supported the Executive Powers Bill alongside amendments to limit pardon powers and shorten the term length of the office. He helped shape the Assembly Rules & Procedures Act by motioning to add the ability to motion to pack bills which Saber, the bill's author, accepted as a friendly amendment. Apples supported packing the Climate Emergency Act and the Recycling Act which he later amended to establish clearer climate goals and further investment.

Apples has taken on many different projects during his 3rd term in the National Assembly. Those include the Education reform package he champions, devolution and restructuring reform, infrastructure projects, justice system overhaul and work on the budget of the Doggerland Belongs to You government. He also helped Avery! with the Uncaged act which he co sponsored. Due to his activity in so many areas he has been called "a policy wonk who gets into a lot of different projects" even if they don't concern his ministry. Apples has worked with the opposition for every bill he has submitted to the assembly, notably with leader of the opposition Saber.

Minister of Education, Families and Equalities
After the LWP won the June 2021 Doggerland legislative elections Theodor Mann was successful in forging a working coalition under the Doggerland Belongs to You coalition with which Apples sided and was given the job of minister of education, families and equalities. At the start of his tenure he announced his education reform bill and has set aim to have it passed during the LWP government. This task however remained unaccomplished as stagnation in the assembly continued.

Thwompism within the Humanist Center


When founding the HC, Apples put Thwompism as an ideology with which the party identifies and has used the Humanist Center as a force for Thwompist rights. He included Thwompist education in his education reform bill and invited a Thwompist rights activist speak at the HC conference ahead of the election. After the passing of Theodore Wheatley Apples called for a laid back approach on Thwompism. Apples later removed Thwompism as an official ideology of the center thinking that, due some people's disliking of it, Thwompism didn't serve its purpose of being a uniting force any more.

June Presidential Election
Apples has stated that Marius Hawyee is "too mad of a lad to not be allowed to run" in a private conversation when asking if he has achieved the needed signatures to qualify and gave his signature to the campaign of the former Prime Minister on June 18. Apples also signed on the campaign of MapDude for president and Seth Woods for vice president. Despite this he and the Humanist Center endorsed incumbent president Rune. Apples supported Rune in the May 2021 Doggerland presidential election so this wasn't a surprising move for many.

June Election
In the June election incumbent Apples faced a though challange from Liberal candidate Shiela Riordan. Riordan ran an effective campaign painting Apples as a radical who only formed the Humanist Center to appeal to liberals while also running ads which pointed to his formation of the party as a fact the left can't trust him. Apples had to spend significant time campaigning in his constituency which likely hurt the HC on the national stage but securing him his seat.

Apples was firstly elected to the seat after the May election as member of the LWP. His switch led to Labour candidate Jess Jones loosing major support in comparison with the party's performance last election. The Reform party was able to gather a lot of support from libertarian voters, leading to the libertarian party loosing over half of its vote share.

In the end Apples was able to barely secure his seat with it being called only after several recounts were done. Forming the Humanist Center was a significant risk for Apples but he was able to win even though it was by a very small margin.

July Election
Greater Western Abester, last election being a two party race between the HC and the Liberals was expected to be a landslide victory for the incumbent after formation of the Together Democratic Alliance and the liberal party's official endorsement.

In other news, Peter Jay of the Free and Equal party had a surprisingly good performance in a seat where libertarian parties don't do very well. This is likely because of voters switching from the DL which has been the case ever since Apples defected from them. The DL had its worst performance in the seat ever, normally gathering at least 10% of the vote. The LWP also lost another significant chunk of support with their votes likely being split between the F&E candidate and Apples himself.

The rise of Sarah Carson, the runner up to the seat, was also a surprise to many. She was able to gather a lot of former liberal and volt voters which disagreed who their party's endorsement.

Legislative History
Apples is the author of the following legislation:
 * Schools, Curriculum, Education and Children; For the Future Act - Education Reform
 * Devolution, Autonomy and Restructuring; Union Act - Devolution reform
 * Northern Development Act - Infrastructure projects, Northern development
 * Expanded Justice Act - Justice system reform

Apples has co sponsored the following legislation:
 * Prime Minister’s Questions Act - PMQs introduction
 * Restorative Justice; Uncaged Act - Prison reform
 * Railroad Act - High speed rail system
 * Senate Reestablishment Act - Senate reform