Craig Warwick

Overview
Craig Warwick is a Dranian politician of the right-wing Grand National Party currently serving as MP for Elbian Province and Chairman of the GNP since March 3425.

Early Life
He was born in 3392 in Widefield (Elbian), a rural parish in the highlands of Elbian Province. His father, a large-scale farmer and landlord, and his mother, a homemaker, were of modest wealth and politically deeply conservative, having voted GNP throughout their whole lives except for the period between 3389 and 3405 when they instead opted for the CNP. After graduating from high school in 3410, he went to Comares, which is the economic stronhold of Elbian Province. There, he attended college for three years before he began working as an investor, using capital he inherited from selling parts his parent's lands after their death. His fortune soon grew rapidly and he managed to "let the money do the work" and concentrate on his political ambitions instead.

Politics
After serving as councillor in Comares between 3315 and 3319 and serving as chairman of the city's economic board, he decided to run for a direct seat in his rural home district Widefield, whose population was made up predominately by conservative Welsh citizens, who he managed to appeal to easily. Thus, he was elected to Parliament in 3420 and soon excelled in the field of economic policy which he gave most of his speeches on.

GNP Parliamentary Leader
Prime Minister Adrienne LeCoultre-Overstraten, who actively encouraged the young man's ambitions and appreciated his enthusiasm on economic issues, awarded to him the prestigious position of parliamentary leader, which he held between 3423 and 3425.

GNP Chairman
After the GNP's historical defeat in the 3424 general election, Warwick was one of the first to announce his candidacy for the position of Chairman, which had shortly before been vacated by the Prime Minister. His main rival during the campaign was Julia Breckinridge, daughter of Speaker Delia Breckinridge, who emerged as early frotrunner.

Throughout the campaign, Breckinridge and Warwick frequently exchanged jibes and mocked each other as "urban hipster girl" (Warwick to Breckinridge), "flippant greenhorn" (Breckinridge to Warwick) while running neck-and-neck while Tilney was largely ignored and onle scored single-digit poll numbers. While Breckinridge was polled above 40% and led Warwick by about ten percent until last December, the tide began to turn when many GNPers gave a second look to the latter after his solid debate performance against President Monmouth over the proposed DSP-PGR-ED coalition. In early January, both were tied at 40 percent, with the momentum being on Warwick's side.

In February, he finally took the lead and climbed up to 47% in the polls, while Breckinridge remained at 40%. In March, however, his poll numbers slipped again and the outcome of the race was deemed open by most pundits. Ahead of the vote, Warwick, despite his libertarian leanings proclaimed conservative paroles and vowed to "represent the heart and soul of Dranland, preserve our traditions and fight against the socialists meddling with people's private autonomy".

In the end, Warwick took 50.6 percent of the votes in the first round, leading Breckinridge (47.1%) and Tilney (2.3%) and thus winning the chairpersonship without a runoff, contrary to what was widely expected. In his victory speech, he proclaimed "unapologetic economic libertarianism and cultural conservatism", apparently attempting to appeal to both wings of his party.