Forethane of Esthursia
| Forethane of Union of Great Esthursia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of | Redery of Esthursia |
| Reports to | Crown of the Union of Esthursia and to the Esthursian parliamentary houses |
| Seat | Brantley North 7 |
| Nominator | House of Thanes |
| Appointer | Crown of the Union of Esthursia |
| Term length | Four years Indefinite until the Forethane no longer commands the confidence of the House of Thanes |
| Constituting instrument | Constitution of Esthursia |
| Formation | 1388 |
| First holder | Oswynht Rickard |
| Deputy | Afterthane of Esthursia |
| Salary | ʃ104,700/year (includes parliamentary salary of ʃ66,050) |
| Website | https://www.gov.es |
The forethane, formerly first minister, is the head of government in the Union of Esthursia. The forethane advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Redery and selects its redethanes (ministers). As forethanes are constitutionally obliged to command the confidence of the House of Thanes, they must be elected thanes themselves, and typically lead the largest party in the upper house. All cabinets they lead must also be approved by legislative investiture in the upper house.
The office of prime minister was at first conventional rather than constitutional, and merely by the seemingly most powerful democratically elected member of the Ministers - later the Thanes when the Thanage democratised in 1934 - until the Constitution wrote into law the position of forethane in 1963; this individual is typically the leader of the political party or coalition of parties that holds the largest number of seats in the upper chamber.
The current Forethane is Harold Osborne, who took office following the resignation of John Largan in January 2015. A vote of no confidence launched on the Forethane in March 2015 failed; Osborne remains in this position as of November 2023. Residency of 192 Llywellyn Street (Edmund House) and position as the First Thane of the Redery are accorded to forethanes by virtue of their position by the Constitution. Forethanes sometimes also hold the position of Redethane for the Union, although this has not been the case since Tharbjorn Einarsson lost the January 2011 general election.
History
The position of First Minister has existed since 1388 following the first "democratic" election in Osynstry, when Oswynht Rickard became the designated figure who sought Edgar II's approval for a set of laws that his group of Members had voted through. Esthursia adopted this position by convention when it united in 1568, thanks to the dominance of Osynstry within this Union. The position of First Minister was included in the constitution and therefore became a default position for the leading figure of the House of Thanes to lead. The First Minister was to be primus inter pares, or the first among equals, in the cabinet and the Thanes. In the 14th century, from the passage of the Democracy Act 1303, democratically elected representatives only had the power to pass tax laws - however upon the Crisis of 1695, this was used as a political weapon, leading to the eventual convention (later included in some depth in the Constitution) that a monarch may not overturn an Act of Berworth.
The position of Forethane, over First Minister, came into being when George Asmont democratised the House of Thanes, and the Ministry moved to sit for Thanage seats. Since then, power has been concentrated more in the upper house de facto, whilst the head of government has always been the Forethane, not the First Minister, whose title is partially ceremonial as the Ministry is mostly administrative in conduct, comprising of mid-to-low-level tiers of governance.