Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

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Secretary of State for Defence, Patrick Peterson has been an old face of the Labour Party’s right-wing flank. While the “Soft Labour” factions within the Labour Party have been content with the Prime Minister’s leadership, his handling of defence matters have left many unsatisfied. Following the National Labour Party’s electoral underperformance in 5712, these groups have begun pressuring Crown Street over changing the “direction and leadership” of the Ministry of Defence.  

The appointment of Patrick Peterson, 64 as Secretary of State for Defence seemed to be a move towards that direction, a self-identified “war hawk”, he pushed the government towards a higher commitment for national defence, often breaking ranks to vote with the Conservative minority on defence question while on the backbenches. The only reason why Mr. Peterson remains on the Labour Party’s benches and now sits on the front benches were through the intervention on his behalf of the Home Secretary, who protected his protégé from sanctions from the party’s apparatus due to his repeated breaks from the party’s whips command. 

As Secretary of State for Defence, Mr. Peterson addressed journalists on his first days at the Malvin Headquarters (Department of Defence’s HQ in Fort William), with him saying that the Department of Defence “would continue the path of professionalism” laid forward by his predecessors. His first statement wasn’t a break from his predecessor’s leadership, but he didn’t praise him either, signalling that “change was coming” to one of the largest departments in the Government. 

Immediately following his appointment, the new Defence Secretary sat down with Elena Clowback for an interview in the “30 Minutes” show on LBC, this short 5-minute-long interview, served its purpose of introducing him to the Luthorian public. During this, he exposed his views on the Ministry of Defence during his tenure as Defence Secretary, stating that, in his mind reducing the defence budget in “such a tough period internationally” might “not be the best move”.  

He moreover argued in favour of continued expansion and buildup of the Luthorian Armed Forces, specifically the Imperial Luthorian Navy, he said: “Now is not the time to be reluctant on our commitment for our national defence, throughout the world, instability takes root in numerous nations and human rights violations are becoming ever-more ordinary throughout the world”.  

“Our defence forces successfully defended our nation in New Verham and I do not see a world in which they wouldn’t continue to do so.” he said and endorsing a view shared mostly by the Conservatives, he lamented the “lack of international institutions” capable of tackling the new task ahead, one determined by the rise of “radicalism and extremism” throughout the world, he added.  

When asked about the compatibility of his doctrine with the Labour government’s PEAK doctrine, he didn’t have much to add. He pointed at the recent creation of the Luthori-Dovani Reconciliation Fund as a “positive development” - and didn’t seem to have viewed any hypocrisy in his view of “increased interventionism” with the “PEAK” doctrine, quite the opposite. 

“My view is that we need to defend both our sovereignty and the rights and privileges that all peoples in this world should have. We cannot sit idly as a regime kills its own population or places a risk to our nation. Both ideals are not mutually exclusive; they are merely an extension of each other on my end.” he stated. 

To conclude his interview, as he has been previous highly critical of the defence cuts, concerned with the status of the projects engaged by the military beforehand, he’s been asked about the current status of said projects, he stated that the defence cuts had “slightly slowed them down”, but were nonetheless continuing smoothly.

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The Weekly Telegraph is a conservative news outlet, based in Fort William. It is one of Luthori's national institutions in terms of newspapers, currently holding 3rd spot in sales.