Frederick Joseph

**Frederick Harold Joseph** (23th December, 1926, aged 90) was a Kymrian politician and journalist, who served as the Prime Minister of Kymry from 1967 to 1968 and again from 1973 to 1979. He also served as leader of the House of Senators from 1990 to 2002, leader of the National Party from 1967-79, leader of the opposition from 1968-74, Minister of the Treasury from 1964-67 and Minister of Industrial Relations from 1961-64. Joseph also represented the constituency of Radyrtown in the House of Councillors from 1950 to 1983 and Keble in the House of Senators from 1983 up until his retirement from politics in 2002.

Born in 1923 the son of a press baron, Joseph serving in the navy during the Second World War. After the fall of fascism in 1945, he became a journalist for the liberal newspaper *The Evening Daily*, before his political inclinations moved more rightwards joining the National Party in 1946. Joseph attempted to get elected to the House of Councillors in 1952, before being elected for the seat of Radyrtown in 1955.

Joseph established himself as a prominent member of the National Party, cultivating links with the former Minister of the Treasury and Prime Minister Samuel Henderson. In 1958, Joseph was appointed by Henderson as the head for the National party election where he took advantage of television and Henderson's image to return National to government. Joseph was appointed as Minister of Industrial Relations by Henderson in 1962, being promoted to Minister of the Treasury in 1964 by Prime Minister Mervyn Pryce, who saw Joseph as his possible successor as National leader. Joseph identified with the one-nation conservative branch of the party, and as Treasury Minister used price and wage controls to "guide" the economy. However, Joseph came under strong criticism when in 1967 he devalued the Kymrian pound, which whilst deemed to be economically necessary was seen as politically damaging to the National Party. Pryce took the majority of the blame from the devaluation, resigning in 1968 with Joseph becoming Prime Minister. However, National went to lose the 1968 election after 19 years in government to a resurgent Labour party.

Joseph was politically damaged by the devaluation, but his charismatic personality and criticism of the then incumbent Labour government of Emyr Phillips ensured he remained popular within the National base. Although National lost the 1970 election, Joseph was able to remain party leader and in 1973 returned National to government in a coalition with the Christian Democratic party.

As prime minister, Joseph was confronted with stagflation and a serious balance of payments issue. Joseph was the last National prime minister to practice Keynesian economics, implementing income policies and attempting to reflate the economy. In 1977 he called a snap election, which resulted in his majority to be substantially reduced as industrial relations worsened. In his second term, he attempted to shift Kymry's energy sources from fossil fuels to nuclear power and start an ambitious infrastructure programme, although these were only partly successful. He encountered more success in foreign policy, leading Kymry into the European Community after a successful referendum. Joseph also with much opposition from his own party ended conscription in 1975.

In 1979 the Christian Democratic Party withdrew from the government after Joseph proposed an austerity budget that cut spending on Catholic schools, resulting the 1980 austerity budget to fail to pass through parliament. The Labour party under Matthew Griffiths forced through a motion of no confidence against the Joseph government, which saw the government defeated and forced Joseph to call an election. The Labour party won a majority, resulting in Joseph to resign from the position of National party leader.

In the 1983 election he retired from the House of Councillors instead running for the Keble constituency for the House of Senators, which he won. Joseph remained prominent and popular within the National party, continuing to support one-nation policies despite his successors William Allen's advocacy of neoliberal and neoconservative policies.

Following the National Party victory in 1990 under Islwyn Cedric Joseph was appointed Leader of the House of Senators, entitling him to return to cabinet. Joseph served as leader of the House of Senators until the 2002 election, when he announced his retirement from politics. Joseph continues to comment on politics.

Joseph's legacy was largely mixed, with his steering of Kymry into the European Community and infrastructure programme being seen as the high points of his premiership. However his stated ambition of ending Kymry's economic malaise and implementing trade union reform failed, and his planned transition from fossil fuels to nuclear energy was only partly implemented, and later scrapped by the Griffiths government. He named the end of conscription as his greatest achievement.