Austin Collins

Austin Clyde Collins (Born April 11th, 1932) served as Airedalandia's 32nd Prime Minister from March 13th, 1993, until his resignation on October 6th, 1998.

Collins was born in Jury, a small town outside of Roycove, Airedale. His is the fourth of six children of Clyde and Martha Collins (née Pavel). His mother was born in Imperial Ebeline and moved to Airedalandia as a young child. She worked as a switchboard operator before getting married. His father was a pilot in the port of Roycove who later moved his family to a farm in Jury by the time Austin Collins was born. Soon after the outbreak of the Great War (1942-1949), Clyde was conscripted into the Royal Airedalandian Navy. Clyde was killed on November 28th, 1943, when his minesweeper was torpedoed. Austin's older brother Malcolm served in the Airedalandian Army during the war and met a similarly grim fate on January 7th, 1946, when he went missing and was presumably killed.

Austin was too young to serve during the war. He instead began working to support his now struggling family, first as a farmhand, then in an auction house. In 1953, he left his first job at an auction house to start his own. His enterprise was successful, and he invested his earnings into obtaining a law degree by correspondence.

In 1959, with his law degree in hand, Collins won a seat on the Town Council of the expanded municipality of Roycove that had annexed Jury. After six years on Roycove Town Council, Collins ran for a seat in the Airedale State Legislature as a Conservative. He lost his first campaign in 1965, but was successful two years later.

Serving in the State Legislature from 1967 to 1978, Collins was one of 11 State Representatives in Airedale that crossed the aisle in 1976 to join the Liberal Party in protest of Prime Minister and Conservative Party Leader Helena Robertson's spending cuts. Collins rose to prominence in his new party, and in 1978 won the race to be the Liberal Party's nominee for Governor of Airedale. The subsequent gubernatorial election saw Collins elected in an impressive victory.

Collins served as Governor of Airedale from 1978 to 1987. He reversed repeated cuts to the state's healthcare budget, and spearheaded an extensive tax overhaul. Collins also used his famed "auctioneer" negotiating tactics to secure substantial federal funding for the construction of two massive new hydroelectric dams from the government of Francisco Gutiérrez, as well has for numerous smaller initiatives. Collins' negotiating skill is even credited with inadvertently bringing down Gutiérrez's popularity with his base in Santobrillo to the point of costing him the 1988 Election, as he was seen as allocating too many resources to Airedale.

Collins was defeated as Governor of Airedale by a non-confidence vote on February 14th, 1987. Collins subsequently went into a political hiatus, then became a vocal supporter of Jimmy Sanderson's government as the Zootronian Revolutionary War unfolded. Being both a respected leader and fluent in Ebelinian, Sanderson appointed him as an envoy to Simon Cooper's Free Ebelinian Army. Collins soon formed an important relationship with Cooper. Collins also later acknowledged this as the time of his greatest support for Sanderson, and even considered returning to the Conservative Party.

Collins diverged from Sanderson once more because of differing visions for post-revolutionary Ebeline, and Airedalandia's role in creating it. Collins had grown to trust Simon Cooper and believed in his vision for a new, democratic state. Sanderson favoured a slower transition, and the extended occupation of the former USER by Airedalandian Commonwealth troops. The extended occupation would crucially require continued conscription, which Collins vehemently opposed. As the 1993 Election neared, Collins and Sanderson were more far apart than ever.

Collins easily won the Liberal Party nomination, and the stage was set for the showdown over conscription and the occupation. Collins emerged victorious, and he won the premiership by some six million votes.

As Prime Minister Collins oversaw extensive negotiations with the young Zootron, as well as a downsizing and demobilization of the Airedalandian military. The immense savings from the defence cuts were largely reinvested in Collins' education and scientific initiatives, and used to lower corporate tax rates. Collins' policies proved popular, and he was re-elected in 1998.

Collins is most remember for the crisis that brought down his government, however. After negotiating the most comprehensive agreement with Zootron so far, Simon Cooper was assassinated on Airedalandian soil on October 4th, 1998. With his cabinet furious and fractured as to how to respond, Collins resigned only two days after Cooper's assassination. Collins' deputy, Margarita Miranda, then headed an interim government ahead of a snap election that saw Richard Summerson come to power.