New Labour Party (Imagua)

New Labour Party of Imagua and the Assimas Nuovo Partito Laburista di Imagua e Assime
Founded	12 March, 1997
Split from	National Labour Party
Headquarters	Cuanstad, Imagua and the Assimas
Youth wing	New Labour Youth
Ideology	Libertarianism
Political position	Centre-right
Colors	Gold
Anthem	The Land
Senate	0 / 60
Chamber of Commons	0 / 70
Political parties Elections

The New Labour Party (Vespasian: Nuovo Partito Laburista) is a minor Imaguan political party. Established in 1997 after the National Labour Party merged with the Sotirian Democratic Party to create the Sotirian Labour Party, the New Labour Party comprised of one NLP senator and one legislator. After losing their seats in the 2000 elections and the retirement of Legislative Councillor Curtis Hinton in 2009, the New Labour Party has faded from political relevancy.

History

Early years and peak

The New Labour Party was established in 1997 by MP Ted Branson, who left the National Labour Party over its decision to merge with the "arch-conservative Sotirian Labour Party," and who was previously one of two MPs from the Democratic Party prior to its merger with the National Labour Party in 1979. Branson was joined by Legislative Councillor Curtis Hinton who refused to join the Sotirian Labour Party for similar reasons.

After officially being registered on 2 May, 1997, albeit under the New Labour Party after their initial suggestion of National Labour Party was rejected, the New Labour Party sought to brand itself as being a "centrist and liberal alternative to the socialism of the Democratic Labour Party and the conservatism of the Sotirian Labour Party." However, the New Labour Party faced a constant uphill struggle for relevance, as after four decades of DLP majority governments, many voters intended to vote for the Sotirian Labour.

The New Labour Party did see some hope when in 1999, Isaiah Harper joined the party after being expelled from the DLP for stealing money from his constituency association to pay for his children's education at a private school. However, the decision to accept Harper into their caucus soured many people's opinion of the NLP, especially after the revelations were revealed to the world in an ITS interview with Harper. That year, Branson was selected to be party leader, although they did not select a presidential candidate, instead urging voters to vote for Agnes Ingram.

In the 2000 general elections, despite running a strong campaign with thirty-two candidates, both Branson and Harper lost their seats by wide margins, as many potential supporters voted for the Sotirian Labour, who presented themselves as being more moderate. Branson thus announced his resignation as party leader after losing his seat, and retirement from politics.

Decline

Following the resignation of Ted Branson as leader of the New Labour Party, a leadership race was held, where Isaiah Harper was the clear frontrunner in the March 2001 leadership convention, and won the race against Cameron Wade by a wide margin. However, Harper's continued association with his 1999 scandal led to substantial criticism from Curtis Hinton, who threatened to leave the New Labour Party if Harper did not resign.

This led to Harper's resignation, which in turn led Cameron Wade to become New Labour Party leader in the August 2001 leadership race, narrowly beating Wendell Emerson. However, Wade was soon embroiled in a scandal of his own, when in 2002, he had an affair. This led to Wade's resignation in May, and in June, Wendell Emerson became party leader as no other candidates contested.

Emerson would serve as party leader, and sought to rebuild the party's reputation. However, the infighting led to many constituency associations being de-registered, and weakened the New Labour Party's standing among wider Imaguan society. This was further escalated when in January 2004, just after the writs were dropped for the 2004 elections, Emerson suddenly resigned due to health problems, leaving Brooke Phillips as acting party leader.

Thus, in that election, the New Labour Party only ran eight candidates. However, none of the candidates would get their deposits back. However, at the 2005 leadership convention, Brooke Phillips was named the official party leader of the New Labour Party, as nobody stood against her. Under her tenure as party leader, she attempted to rebuild the party to serve as a "credible alternative" to both the Democratic Labour Party and the Sotirian Labour Party.

However, by this point in time, the New Labour Party was seen as being an irrelevant force in politics, particularly as Curtis Hinton was "an independent in all but name." By 2008, despite Phillips' best efforts, the New Labour Party only fielded five candidates, and only garnered 212 total votes.

She subsequently resigned in the aftermath of the 2008 elections, and was succeeded by Bob Manning in the 2009 leadership convention. Although Manning successfully drove the New Labour Party into a more libertarian direction during his leadership, and did see an initial increase of candidates to 7 in the 2012 general elections, the New Labour Party has remained irrelevant and by 2020 only fielded the minimum number of candidates.

Political positions

While the New Labour Party was initially established as a centre-right political party, based on the traditional ideals of classical liberalism, since Bob Manning became leader in 2009, they have become libertarian.

As of 2012, they are a strong supporter of ending all immigration restrictions, free trade, abolition of all regulations, and supportive of legalizing same-sex marriage and abortion until birth.

Election results

Election	Leader	Candidates	Seats	+/-	Votes	%	Position
2000	Ted Branson	32/67	0 / 67	2	41,498	4.9%	Extra-parliamentary opposition
2004	Brooke Phillips	8/68	0 / 68		1,953	0.27%	Extra-parliamentary opposition
2008		5/68	0 / 68		212	0.03%	Extra-parliamentary opposition
2012	Bob Manning	7/70	0 / 70		541	0.08%	Extra-parliamentary opposition
2016		4/70	0 / 70		401	0.05%	Extra-parliamentary opposition
2020		3/70	0 / 70		143	0.02%	Extra-parliamentary opposition