Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

The Schismatic Sea Crisis’ consequences weren’t merely felt on the entire world, but also reflected on the Luthorian political landscape. With a government still recovering from the fallout of the crisis and the political cost of triggering an exceptional imperial intervention to narrowly avoid the outbreak of war in the southern hemisphere, it seemed unlikely that Prime Minister Wittfield would survive the crisis and successfully remain as the nation’s chief executive.

And these fears were proven right, as on December 24, before the Emperor’s traditional Hallowtide speech, some National Labour MPs expressed “displeasure” at the Prime Minister’s overall handling of the Schismatic Crisis, with his war hawk policies having nearly brought the nation to the brink of war.

While the Orange Palace and the Imperial Household Ministry remained silent on political matters following the monarch’s intervention in the recent diplomatic clash between the Kalistanis and Luthorians. Furthermore, the Imperial Household Ministry deliberately sidestepped the Foreign Office in the matter of negotiations with the Kalistani government, with Emperor Edward VII asking the Secretary of State to the Imperial Household (who is, by tradition, appointed at the monarch’s discretion) to lead the Luthorian delegation in Gaduridos instead of the Foreign Secretary, whose behavior during the crisis had left many perplexed as about his real intentions in the negotiating table.

The fallout came out following the rapidly hatched up agreement between the Luthorians and Kalistanis. While most in Parliament were favourable to the outbreak of hostilities between Luthori and Kalistan before the Gaduri mediation, following the announcement of an agreement, they quickly turned against the government’s policy, which in their mind was “warmongering in its worst senses”, the Conservatives, the Hosian People’s Party, some segments of the Liberal Party, all of these sides which supported the war turned against the Prime Minister and his administration.

Needless to say, his handling of the situation was mediocre to say at best, the issue for the Prime Minister was to attack his opponents of their hypocrisy and also defend the point of view that he had, in dramatically escalating the situation in the Anantonese, defended Luthorian interests to the point of potentially going to war. This left the Prime Minister in a vulnerable position to defend against the left-wing opposition in the Greens, Left Party and other extra parliamentary parties such as the Socialists, the Peace Party and others. To add up, the left-wing factions within the Labour Party quickly turned on its own head as the political fallout of the crisis quickly made heads turn quickly.

As pressure mounted and him and his cabinet to face accountability for its actions and resign, the Prime Minister’s own allies begun to turn on him, Seleya Minister Meaglia was sacked on January 6, with Foreign Secretary McAffie following suit, resigning from his post on January 13. But these resignation of the two most hated persons in Luthori right now have had no consequences on the real demand that was his own resignation. Pressure continued to mount in both the Imperial Diet and the House of Peers, with the latter even threatening to pass a non-binding no-confidence motion against the PM to force his removal.

After a disastrous showing in the Imperial Diet in which the Prime Minister struggled against both attacks from the left-wing and the rest of the formerly pro-war opposition, in which notably, the Greens’ Parliamentary Leader, Krysten Biles, stated that the Prime Minister had “willingly toyed with the whole nation’s future, the life of numerous innocent people” and that he should be “ashamed of having tarnished our nation’s reputation with his warmongering and thank God that the situation didn’t escalate further, as otherwise, he wouldn’t be remembered merely as a man who played with fire, but as a man who sacrificed his nation’s future, the brightest of our future for no reason at all.”

The Prime Minister, after increased pressure from his own political side, finally announced his resignation as Luthori’s chief executive on January 26, 5737. He announced his intention of standing until the next Leader of the National Labour Party was elected by his peers in Parliament. Resigning in disgrace, his resignation speech was met with boos and jeers as protestors demonstrated in front of Number 10 and the Orange Palace to show their discontent about him. During their meeting at the Orange Palace, the Emperor accepted his resignation, and they discussed for around 20 minutes, details of their discussions not being released to the public.