Edward Craig

Sir Edward Daniel Craig KCVO GCMG VR (born 12th April 1968) is an English statesman, politician and former Royal Naval Intelligence Officer. He rose to prominance due to his background and outspoken attitude to the Labour leadership, in his earlier days as a backbencher he often defied the whip for causes that he deemed to be in the national intrest voting against things that comprimised his moral character. However his rise to a household name came in the post-2019 election Labour Government as part of the triarchy at the top of the Labour Government alongside Prime Minister Alexander Redd MP and Deputy Prime Minister Rowan Atkinson CBE MP. He is most well known for his creation of the Joint Security Service now headed by Baroness Penelope Mordaunt, and is the inaugural holder of the office of Secretary of State for National Security. 
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== Early Life ==
Craig was born in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England on the 12th of April 1968 to Edward and Isabella Craig; a steelworker and a office secretary respectively. He was the eldest of three siblings, the other two being Alister Craig, a Colour Sergeant in the Royal Engineers, and Maria Craig a matron in Scunthorpe General Hospital. 
From the age of 2, his family resided in the village of Scawby, on the outskirts of Scunthorpe, in a house left to his mother by her parents who had passed away that same year. Edward had been brought up an Anglican and to this day remains active in his local parish, and still attends church at St Hybalds in Scawby; he is quoted as having said that while he was in the Navy, his faith did waiver but the teachings of the chuch helped him through that tough time. Edward and his siblings were educated at Sir John Nelthorpe School, he attended the school concurrently with as David Yelland and then progressed onto to study at John Leggott College. His tutors recall that he was naturally gifted at public speaking even at a young age, and was president of both the debate and mock trial socities. His history tutor has been quoted as having said that he had a natural affinity with leaders such as Churchill and General Sir Edmund Allenby. It was thus no surprise to many of his tutors and close childhood friends that he then took the opportunity to enlist into the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, where he was made an Officer Cadet.
== Royal Naval Career ==
He has often stated that his studies at the Royal Naval College were some of his happiest times. A classmate at the time has been quoted to the Sunday Times as having said that 'Edward simply took to Naval Training like a duck to water, there was seemingly nothing that he didnt have a natural talent for'; this can be seen by his career that Craig excelled at both Physical and Mental tasks, but Craig himself freely admits that he had a taste and an aptitude for Intelligence work and the lessons that centred around that topic were some of the classes where he scored highest. It comeas as no surpise then that when he passed out from Britannia Royal Naval College that he was handpicked to work within the Intelligence Division of the Royal Navy. He was quickly promoted to Acting Lieutenant for his efforts at the College.
The vast majority of Craig's work in the Royal Navy is classified due to the nature of Intelligence work, however we do know that he rose quickly through the ranks of the Intelligence devision being made a full Lieutenant within the year, and being promoted to Lieutenant Commander within 5, in this time he began his life behind a desk from what we understand gathering information and analysing data, however this was only for the first 3 years after which he traded up the desk for field work. Little is known of what involvements he had but it is known that from his medals he had involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Towards the end of Craig's regular military service we know that his profession was classed as Senior Intelligence Operative and that he had been promoted to the rank of Commander, In the final year of his service we know that whilst leading a team of Intellagence Operatives to a safe location they were caught in an ambush, thanks to Craig's leadership and quick thinking all 9 Intelligence Operatives arrived at the location alive, for this action and in recognition of his meratois service he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Order. 
Following 15 years of Regular Service Craig transferred from the Royal Navy to the Royal Naval Reserves and set out into civilian life, he found himself working for IRIS Private Security Consultants as a Senior Security Data Analyst; a position which he remained in for a further 3 years.
== Political Career ==
==== First Elected ====
Following the success of the Labour Government under Tony Blair, in the year before the 2005 General Election, Scunthorpe Member of Parliament Elliot Morley intended to step down at the next election citing that he wished to spend more time with his children in their family home in Hull. This presented an opportunity to Craig that he took with both hands putting himself forward for the Labour candidacy. He was selected and had gained overwhelming support from the local Labour Party, successfully captivating the energy of the local community. His opponent took the line that due to Craig's military background being classified, they knew nothing of what he had done over the last few years. This was ill-received by the general public and labeled a smear campaign by many Labour supporters. Craig responded resolutely, once stating that he grew up here that he went to school in the town and that most knew him better than they knew of his opponent's past. His success in the election was secured as the vote was counted, and to many of his supporters was clear evidence that he had gained the trust of the local populace, when all was said and done Craig was elected to Westminster with a majority of nearly 11,000. 
==== Work in Parliament ====
Following his victory he was elected to the office of Member of Parliament for Scunthorpe, following entering the House, Craig proved quickly to be a copetant and skilled operative gaining support for bills in the house gaining allies and support on both sides of the house. He proved to be a pain in parliament more often voting on principle than with the party line, he proved himself to be mixed-caucus member, mainly identifying with the Progress/"New Labour" caucus - in contrast to Redd and Atkinson - however due of his life experience and career he is more reserved when it comes to military matters but can be said to be socially progressive. He has also been a member of the Northern Group since its inception in 2019.
==== Work in Government ====
He did not accept when offered the role of Parliamentary Private Secretary of Adam Ingram who was at the time the Minister of State for the Armed Forces as he wished to learn the ropes as a constituancy Member of Parliament to begin with, this is what he continued to do up until 2007. With the resignation of Tony Blair and the election of Gordon Brown he was appointed the the position of Minister of state in the Home office, namely the Minister of State for Intelligence, Security and Counter Terrorism. Edward accepted this post on the understanding that he was appointed for his expertise to an area that he was knowledgeable in not just given a token position to keep him on side. For a number of years he aided the Home Secretaries Jacqui Smith and Alan Johnson in managing the turbulant times that lay ahead of them, he also acted as the go between from Jonathan Evans, the Director General of the Security Service, and the Home Secretary of the day. This ensured that the Home Secretary was abreast of situations with clarity of information. This became a policy niche for Edward clarity of intelligence after the scandals that had plauged the Labour Party. 
==== Work in Oppositon ====
Following the downfall of the Labour Government in the 2010 election Craig was a prominant cirtic of the work of the leadership to retain voters confidence and to ensure the relection of the labour party. While commiserating a loss for the ousting of his party from government he celebrated a personal success of increasing his vote majority to 12,500. While it was clear that Labour no longer had the confidence of the nation, Craig still had confidence of the people of Scunthorpe. 
Following their removal from the Treasury Benches and being thrown into opposition, he retained her position in a shadow capacity as Shadow Minister of State for Intelligence, Security and Counter Terrorism and held the Government to account over their actions pertaining spesifically to intelligence and Security. During the duration of the Chilcot Inquiry Craig acted as an independant expert witness, a large proportion of his testamony is sealed as it pertained to work done during his military service, however he was praised by Chilcot none the less for his diligent testamony. During opposition he was a very vocal critic of the Coalition Governments handling of the Snowdon Leaks and the critical information that was leaked into the media. 
He reatained his position under Harman and most of the Miliband Leadership however in mid 2014 he was promoted to Shadow Secretary of State for Defence replacing Vernon Coaker. Following the election loss of the Labour Party under Ed Miliband Edward commiserated again, however again celebrated as his personal vote share increasing to 13,000 due to his diligent local work as the constituancy Member of Parliament he was committed to being. 
==== Resignation and Backbench Opposition ====
When Ed Miliband resigned as Leader of the Labour Party, Edward agreed with Ms Harman that a steady transition was important and therefor retained his position as Shadow Secretary of State for Defence. However in the leadership election he initially backed Yvette Cooper for leader, however after urged people to vote for either Yvette Cooper or Andy Burnham in the ballot stating they were the best options for the future of the party. 
Following the election of Jeremy Corbyn he was offered the post of Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which Edward turned down stating that he felt that there were members of the party more skilled, he was then offered Shadow Secretary of State for Defence which Edward contomplated but stated that he did not feel that he could work with Jeremy as Leader so returned to the Backbenches. 
In this period, he rebelled more times against leadership than he had in his parliamentary career finding the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn to be weak and uninsipring. Following this poor leadership when the leadership challange of 2016 came about Craig backed Owen Smith having commented privatly to a close friend that it was the lesser of two evils. Down hearted and broken at the relection of Jeremy Corbyn to leader, he again declined to join the shadow cabinet even in a junior position. 
He continued to oppose the government on matters of policy relating to Intelligence and Security, and to the matters and people of Scunthorpe. He also served on the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, and did for a brief time consider running for its Chairship. The years under Corbyn harmed labour more than Edward imagined. Edward was a persistant critic of Corbyns leadership and had been threatened multiple times to have his whip removed. He was a vocal critic of Corbyns treatment of the Anti-semitism Scandal. 
==== Redd Coronation ====
With the Resignation of Jeremy Corbyn brought some elhation to Edward, when it came to nominating for standing for leadership he flirted with the idea of standing himself, however after discussions with Alexander Redd and Rowan Atkinson he agreed to support Redd bringing with him (''hopefully'') the support of the Soft-Left and Centrists of the party. With Redds unapposed run he was appointed as Shadow First Secretary of State, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and returned to the post he deserved Shadow Secretary of State of Defence and so the Triarchy was born. Whilst the Three Pillars stood the party would remain unified. 
==== Return to Government ====
With the changes to the political landscape so blatant, a General election was called. With this new unified party Labour managed to secure a huge victory, the first time in what felt like a lifetime he celebrated on two accounts. A Labour Government and vote majority of 14,000 and with that he returned into Government and was inducted into the Privy Council, the new First Secretary of State, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Secretary of State of Defence. As the transition closed he moved into the Grace and Favor residence of Number 12 Downing Street with his family.
His work to begin with focused primarily on beginning the reviews that Labour had promised to conduct into the branches of the armed forces. In this time he was responsible for the beginning of the reforms in the armed forces. He spent alot of time working with General Sir Nicholas Carter looking at the streamlining of Purchase order requests within the Army and the Royal Navy.
==== Focus on National Security ====
In Feburary 2020 the United Kingdom was subjected to two terror attacks on civillian areas. The first attack took place in Oldbury and consisted of an explosion and a gunman in which the gunman at the Oldbury medical centre claimed credit for the bomb. The second attack took place in Wolverhampton where a sole Gunman entered a shop and began to open fire. The total number of deaths by the end of all hospitalisations stood at 120 people. 
When Edward was alerted to the unfolding incident he hurried over to the Cabinet Room where he along with the Prime Minister and Home Secretary coordinated the Government responce to the incident. He in essence he acted as a Platinum Commander for the incident coordinating the responce from multiple agencies. Following the incident he was a heavy critic of the responce by the then Home Secretary John Healey, it is speculated that he played a large part in seeing that he was replaced with Natalie Nichols in the same reshuffle that made him Secretary of State for National Security. 
In the days that followed the attack it was Edwards who spearheaded the creation of the Joint Security Service by merging MI5 (The Security Service), MI6 (The Secret Intelligence Service), OSCT (Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism), NDEDIU (National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit), DIS (Defence Intelligence Staff - remaining jointly with Defence), JTAC (Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre), CPNI (Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure), CCS (The Civil Contingencies Secretariat), GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) and the Joint Intelligence Organisation. The Three primary operations of the Joint Security Services are said to be his creations, these are SPECTRE (The Senior Professional Executive for Counterintelligence, Territorial), Operation SKYFALL and The 00 Section. 
It was also him that was in consultation with cabinet appointing Baroness Penelope Mordaunt, formarly a Conservative leader now a Crossbench peer, to the post of Director-General, this is thought to be as Baroness Mordaunt served in the Royal Navy in the same Division as Craig meaning that he knew her experience as a Warfare Intelligence Officer including provided intelligence updates and threat assessments to support operational planning would make her an indispensable asset at the top of the nations Intelligence and Security operations. Ontop of that their close personal friendship meant that he was sure that she would be able to carry out the tasks needed. 
Following his appointment as Secretary of State for National Security he has appeared before the house a number of times answering questions and making statements on matters of National Importance. He also appears before the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee whenever called as he is passionate about transparency and accountability. 
==== The Atkinson Problem and Craig's Rise ====
During Edward's tenure as First Secretary of State in the Second Reshuffle Craig was appointed as Chair of the Labour Party. As a part of his remit he continued the investigation into Anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, what he discovered was truly troubling, in this role he also was the point person with the European Court of Human Rights who too were conducting an investigation and review into these events, what came out in these investigations shook the Party to its core. Hghlighted in both results were comments made by the then Deputy Prime Minister Rowan Atkinson. Craig was shocked and horrified by these statements and when in discussion with Prime Minister Alexander Redd Craig was clear that he could not continue to serve as Deputy Prime Minister and action was required against all member of the party that are identified in both investigations. 
Following consultation with the NEC and votes being taken it was agreed that the now former Deputy Prime Minister and all other Labour Memebers of Parliament who were identified in these reports and also two groups which too were identified. Following this move a reshuffle took place and Sir Edward recieved a promotion from First Secretary of State to Deputy Prime Minister. 
Following this removal of Rowan Atkinson, in March 2021 Sir Edward Craig convened the Northern Group and lead the vote to disband the Group following the abhorant views displayed by its former leader. 
== Personal Life ==
Edward is married to Anabelle Craig née Romanoff a british national of Russian descent, a distant relative of Nicholas I, Tsar of Russia. The two supposedly met in Russia where both had gone on holiday, they fell in love over their shared love of military history, they married a year later and now have three children together, a son, Edward Junior aged 12, twin girls Maria and Isabella who are 9. The family live in Scawby, North Lincolnshire in his parents house however currently reside within Number 12 Downing Street. Anabella is a Historian and Writer and has been published many times in both print and online. 
==== Cars ====
Edward has a keen intrest in cars, and ever since he was a boy and his Grandfather owned one he has adored Astin Martins, spesifically the classics, he himself owns both a DB5 and a V8 Saloon in grey and black respectively, he often uses these to get around favoring to drive himself than be driven. He is also a member of a number of Car Clubs in both London and a founder memebr of the Northern Car Club, which grants him access to a number of classic cars and rare vintages at his disposal. In 2020 Edward recieved a Jenson Interceptor S (Re-Engineered) as a Birthday Gift from his wife Annabel. 
==== Society Affairs ====
While there is no doubting that Craig comes from a middle class family at best he has a firm grasp on the understanding of ordinary people, and a firm grasp that his grandparents were upper middle class and potentially disappointed in his mothers choice of husband but non the less Craig has been raised to enjoy the finer aspects of Society, he is a member of a number of London Clubs and regularly attends black and white tie events as a guest speaker, he has a perticular affinity for educating young people on politcs and is a patron of a number of Young Labour Societies and speaks at many of their events. 
== Honours ==
In the 1988 New Years Honours list Edward was appointed as a Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George for services to foreign and commonwealth affairs in his work in intelligence. Following his promotion to Lieutenant Commander in a battlefield promotion he was inducted as a Knight Commander of the same order for exeptional service.
Following his service to the nation as a Member of Parliament and his dedication in the Royal Naval Reserves and for distinguished personal service to the Monarch he was appointed as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, following the events of February 2020 he was elevated further to the position of Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.
As a member of the Royal Naval Reserves for over 10 years he was awarded the Volunteer Reserves Service Medal he joins the ranks of those who serve in the Reserves whilst also serving in parliament.