James "Jim" Crowley

James "Jim" Crowley (June 21, 1928) was a Dogger politician and statesman, who was the leader of the Labor Workers' Party of Doggerland (LWP) from 1978 to 1996, and served as Prime Minister of Doggerland from 1987 to 1996. Crowley became Prime Minister after narrowly gaining a plurality of seats in the 1987 Snap Election, coming ahead of Paul Tudor's ruling Liberal Party in what was widely considered an upset election. Before he was elected Prime Minister of Doggerland, he served as Leader of the Opposition from 1983 to 1987.

Life
James Crowley was born on June 21, 1928 in Kensingston, Zuipont. He was the third and youngest of three sons of Liam Crowley (1889-1957), a Doctor, and his wife Hannah (Krol; 1895-1958). Liam Crowley was English and Hannah Crowley was Dutch, making James of mixed English-Dutch descent, being fluent in both Dutch and English, later he would say that the experience of being of two cultures influenced his handling of the NPD Crisis. Both parents were members of the Arbeidspartij, with Liam Crowley running for the Kensington City Council in 1934. James Crowley attended the Kensingston Academy High School, a majority English school, and then studied at the Graki City University; he was the first member of his family to attend university. He became a member of the Arbeidspartij at age 19 in 1947, and in 1949 became the President of the Student Socialists of Doggerland, the collegiate branch of the Arbeidspartij. It was in the Student Socialists of Doggerland that he would meet and form a relationship with Emma Jones (1926-2020), who he would later marry in 1953. He would go on to graduate cum laude in 1950, having studied both economics and political science. Beginning in 1952, he began to work for the local government of Kensington, helping to develop economic policy. It was during this period that Jim and Emma would have their 3 children: twins Oscar Crowley (born 1956) and George Crowley (1956-2003), and Charlotte Crowley (born 1958). Jim Crowley would resign from this job in 1958 to run for the National Assembly.

Member of National Assembly
In 1958, he was elected to the National Assembly, and would quickly gain a reputation as both a firebrand for progressive social causes and as both the youngest and tallest member of the assembly at the time (being 30 years old and 6'7 feet). He would often criticize the Liberal administration during his early years in the assembly and was one of the harshest critics of Jeroen Kost's economic policies. It was during this time he developed a sort of personal rivalry with Paul Tudor, a Liberal MNA of similar age who had opposing views to him, who Crowley once famously called "a pompous prick". Crowley would be one of the key negotiators of the merger between the Arbeidspartij and the Workers' Party, a minor socialist party, into the Labor Workers' Party in 1967, crafting a party platform that was much more left-wing on social issues and adopted a firm social democratic stance on economic issues. Crowley ran in the 1968 Labor Workers' Party leadership election following the merger, running as the most moderate candidate in the race, he ended up coming in 3rd place, however, he was appointed Deputy Parliamentary leader of the LWP. Once Tudor was elected Prime Minister in 1971 and began to crack down on the NPD, Crowley became his most vocal opposition within the National Assembly, often calling his policies "authoritarian" and "the next step towards dictatorship".

Labor Workers' Party Leader
After the resignation of the LWP leader due to a corruption scandal, a leadership election was held in 1983 which James Crowley would win. The 1984 Election would see significant gains for the LWP, with Jim Crowley becoming the Leader of the Opposition, while the Liberal Party now relied on the Social Credit Party for parliamentary support. In 1986, Crowley would soon call for a vote in the assembly on repealing the Emergency Enabling Act and the Dogger Safety Act, which would pass with support from the Progressive Conservatives, the Justice Party, and some members of the Liberal Party; the repealing of these bills made Crowley an incredibly popular figure among the Doggish community. In 1987 a Snap Election was called by Prime Minister Tudor. This election would see the Labor Workers' Party gained a plurality of 72 seats, forming a coalition government with the Justice Party, which had 8 seats.

Prime Minister of Doggerland (1987-1996)
Crowley was elected Prime Minister on April 20th, 1987, after the LWP won a plurality of seats and formed a coalition government with the Justice Party. The initial goal his administration was set on was the undoing of the liberal economic reforms taken by Tudor and the settling of a peace agreement with the NPD. Diplomacy with the NPD took up much of his first term, with the closing of the prison camps and ending of the targetting of Doggish citizens by the military and police with the passing of the Raitho Act of 1988. In the 1990 election, this would be the focal point of his campaign as the NPD had almost completely collapsed. The LWP would win an outright majority of 80 seats with 53.3% of the vote in the 1990 election, the best ever performance for their party. His second term would be when Crowley enacted a program os mass domestic reform, namely: passing the National Minimum Wage Act of 1992, Education for All Act of 1993, the reforming of the prison system, and the Water Pollution Control Act. In 1995, 18 months before the next election, Crowley announced that he would resign from his position as LWP leader immediately after the election, citing his advanced age and the lack of free time he had to spend with his grandchildren. He endorsed his protege Christian Janssen in the following leadership election, who would end up coming in 2nd place.

Post-Prime Ministership (1996-Present)
Following his resignation as party leader, he continued to be on the moderate wing of the party, for the rest of this period, before eventually retiring from politics altogether in 2007 ahead of the 2008 general election. Since retiring, he has lived a fairly secluded life in his hometown of Kensington, rarely making public appearances or statements, however, he is seen annually alongside other former prime ministers during ceremonial events and often does interviews during that period. He was often pictured on social media, taking walks around the town of Kensington with his wife Emma, until her passing in 2020, since which Jim Crowley has not appeared publicly.

Political Views
James Crowley had self-identified as a "business-friendly social democrat", for much of his career, consistently being on the right-wing of his party on domestic policy issues, then during the 1990s, he began to tie himself with the Third Way movement within Social Democratic parties. He is thought of by some political scientists to be the ideological predecessor of Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder.