George Ryan

George Ryan was born April 13th, 1917 in present day Dorten Durlius. He became the first Prime Minister of Durlius, formerly known as the territory of Spen under the United Kingdom, in 1942 after the first general election. He was elected leader of the Liberals shortly before and held his post for three years before losing the 1945 election to the Conservatives. He was later Governor of Zurin, beating Tory Jacob Luse who took back his seat after Ryan served two terms.

George Ryan had three children, Mike, Holly, and Lucas, and all three where involved in his campaigns. Mike Ryan went on to become a member of Parliament from Zoref and a minister of Defense. Ryan's wife was Lisa Margret Ryan who passed away 2 years after him.

Early Life
Ryan attended school in Dorten for his entire educational life, including college. He attended the University of Dorten and received a Law Degree never getting a bachelors (possible at the time until the 1952 Education Act). Dorten was a strong supporter of the peaceful rebellion against the UK's rule of Spen and became a college leader of his organizations around this. He was also a member of the Spen Democracy Party at the time.

Rebellion
Ryan was an active participant in the rebellion against the United Kingdom in a peaceful manner. He first worked in low staff positions in the formal organizations of the government's rebellion, but later became a chief diplomat to the United Kingdom for negotiations. He negotiated the 1939 border deal that allowed for more immigrants into Spen to increase the nation's population. The territory ended up declaring independence in 1941 and writing it's constitution in 1942. During the 1941 provincial governance of the region, Ryan served as an assistant to the Acting Governor of Durlius, the new name for the young nation.

Ryan went on to found the Liberal Party with Marcus Zuref and Lucius Testorn and he beat out both for leadership of the party in 1942.

Leader of the Liberals
The Liberals held an immediate election in 1942 between parliament candidates for a party leader. This leader became George Ryan who lead the party through its first general election. He worked to strengthen the parties' candidates (changing many from the previous lineup, aggravating most) and prepare a platform. He decided to focus on immigration and the economy, two rampant issues within the new nation of Durlius.

Durlius found his policies quite to their liking, and this gained the liberals one of the spots as a top party (ended up only being two top parties). The liberals went on to win the first general election in 1942 with just over 50% of the vote and 283 seats, a slim but workable majority.

Prime Minister of Durlius
After his parties' victory, Ryan was selected to become Prime Minister by the Head Tribune (the formal monarch of the nation with no power). Ryan immediately selected a cabinet of 19 ministers, all from his party, and began passing his legislative proposals in parliament.

Ryan passed two economic acts, the Minimum Wage Act of 1943 (based loosely off America's) and the Monopolistic Regulation Act of 1944. These were highly praised by economists in the nation, however, most people ignored the two acts and focused instead on the nation's work on establishing its foreign policy.

Ryan's foreign policy was very isolationist. His government, much to the dismay of the people, made little attempt at gaining allies and instead focused on internal matters. Polling showed this dropped his approval ratings by over 11 percent, a huge chunk of support for the young liberal Prime Minister. The party ended up overturning his foreign policy in parliament, a direct hit to their leader, and displeased the voters by their internal dysfunction.

Ryan also passed the Immigration Act of 1944 which allowed more immigrants into the nation, a popular law and his best accomplishment as Prime Minister according to most at the time. This is considered the primary reason his majority wasn't completely slashed in the 1945 election.

1945 Election
Shortly before the 1945 General Election, the Liberals held another leadership race to see if someone could beat the ailing Prime Minister. No candidate was able to overtake Ryan, though the race lost him much support within his own party. Liberal turnout ended up being 9% lower in the election due to this leadership race, a huge hit to the Prime Minister.

Ryan campaigned on a new foreign policy in an attempt to woe back the voters, though no one believed he would implement it, according to polls. He also campaigned on continuing to improve the economy and population numbers, his two greatest achievements as Prime Minister. Having a good debate with the opposition leader, Kylie Spence, Ryan got a large bump 3 weeks before the election in polling. However, this bump diminished quickly after as Spence continued to push Ryan hard on his "Phony foreign policy". Ryan was able to raise more money than Spence's Tories, but lost the election.

The Liberals lost a significant amount of seats in the 1945 Election and Ryan's tenure as Prime Minister ended promptly within a month.

Governor of Zurin
Ryan returned to private life for a year following his election defeat, opting out of staying in Parliament in the Opposition Leader post, and moved home to the state of Zurin. Becoming dissatisfied with the Governor, Ryan soon began contemplating running to oust the ailing Governor, and ended up doing so with much support from his party. In a usually Conservative state, Ryan pulled 62.3% of the election vote, a solid win for the former Prime Minister.

As Governor, Ryan balanced the state's budget, improved its regulations in the economy, helped the environment through the Water-River Cleanup Act of 1949, and received lots of federal aid for several test programs that worked out quite well for the state. His policies went on to influence conservative and liberal Prime Ministers in the future.

Ryan was re-elected in 1950 with 71.6% of the vote against Jacob Luse again. Ryan continued as a popular governor until retiring before the 1953 Election. Jacob Luse replaced Ryan after winning a close Tory primary and beating a weak Liberal candidate. Ryan did however, campaign for the liberal, Joseph Luciern.

After Politics
Ryan retired to a peaceful summer home in Zurin and died some many years later in his sleep. He enjoyed fishing, painting, and watching the news after his time in politics, though he went bankrupt shortly before his death due to bad financial planning. His bankruptcy was bailed about by a sorry-parliament.