Diane Hall

**Diane Hall** (née **Gwynfor**; born 17th December 1968) is a former Kymrian politician and teacher who served as the Prime Minister of Kymry between 2008 to 2014. She was also Labour leader and co-currently Leader of the Opposition between 2004-8, and Member of Parliament for Carwealth between 1993-2014. She currently works as the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth for the European Union in the Juncker Commission. She was the first female Prime Minister in Kymry.

Born in Gwellynsea in 1968, Hall was a teacher until being elected to the Kymrian parliament in the 1994 election as the Labour candidate for Carwealth. After factional infighting in opposition, Hall was elected as Labour party leader following the Labour party's defeat in 2003 becoming leader of the opposition. Hall unexpectedly won the 2008 election, becoming the 11th Prime Minister of Kymry and the fifth from the Labour party.

As Prime Minister she implemented social democratic policies, supporting the expansion of women reproductive rights and affirmative action policies, passing legalisation for civil partnerships in 2007, withdrawing troops from Iraq and expanding funding for the Health Assistance Programme (HAP). Hall adopted fiscal stimulus to deal with the great recession as well as cutting back welfare programs and continuing privatisation. In 2011 she controversially refused to intervene in the Libyan Revolution. In 2013 she stated she would retire from the role of prime minister due to a scandal, instead opting to take the role of European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth for the Juncker Commission in 2014.

## Early life

Diane Hall was born Diane Judy Gwynfor on the 17th December 1968 in the town of Glywir in north east Kymry. Her father, Johnathan Gwynfor, was a self-employed electrician with her family being politically conservative and attended the Anglican Church of Kymry. Her family is of Welsh and German descent, and she was an only child. As well as her native English, Hall also speaks Welsh and Italian.

Hall attended the West Park Kindergarten before enrolling in the Glywir Middle School, where she showed aptitude at maths and English. She scored high scores in her Standard Primary Examinations (SPE's) and Standard Secondary Examinations (SSE's), enabling her to attend the College of Columbia at the age of 16, one of the top colleges in Kymry. In her youth she supported the Labour party, identifying as a democratic socialist. In 1986 she enrolled in the University of Gwellynsea to where she studied political science coupled with a teaching training course, receiving an bachelors degree 1989.

Hall continued teaching training through to March 1991, qualifying to become a politics lecturer at the UG. After becoming a lecturer she became a member of the National Confederation of Teachers, a trade union, and subsequently became a registered member of the Labour Party. She co-currently worked as a researcher for the party, rising her profile within her local Constituency Labour Party.

### Member of Parliament

In the 1993 election Hall was successfully chosen as the candidate for the Carwealth constituency, the same year the Labour was defeated after 17 years in government. In her election to the Carwealth constituency, she distanced herself from the Labour hard left, and made a name for herself for appealing beyond Labour's traditional base of unionised workers' and students to also appeal to middle class homeowners by basing her campaign around social liberalism rather then economic issues, as well as advocating EEC membership and a women's right to choose regarding abortions. Upon being elected to parliament, Hall rose rapidly within the Labour caucus. Hall upon entering parliament became a member of the Social Democrat (or soft left) wing of the Labour party.

Following the 1993 election Griffith stepped down from the party leadership, triggering a two-way leadership election between the Thomas Lawson and Joe Richmond. Hall supported Joseph throughout the campaign, who represented the social democratic faction within the party over the radical left represented by Richmond. Lawson won the election after three rounds of voting, inaugurating Hall into his shadow cabinet as shadow foreign secretary.

Hall as Shadow Foreign Secretary initially opposed the Maddock government's stance towards the Kosovo War, with Maddock calling for the bombing of Yugoslavia and the removal of President Slobodan Milošević. When in 1999 bombing was approved by parliament Halll condemned the Maddock government as "*having skimmed over important information and preparation in their attempt to launch a war...this intervention does nothing but put Kymrian lives at risk*". She later clarified after the bombing which was perceived by the Kymrian public as a military success that the Labour party had not opposed the intervention in principle (having previously led military interventions in Iraq and Bosnia and Herzegovina) but had opposed the approach taken by the Maddock government.

### Leader of the Opposition

The Nationas won the 2001 election, causing Lawson to step down from the party leadership. Michael Clarke was the first MP to declare his candidacy on the 13th December followed by Hall on the 17th. The contest saw Hall pitch herself as a centre left alternative to Clarke who was on the party's right. Hall crucially was able to gain the support of the Kymrian Inclusive Trade Union Confederation (KITUC), the largest trade union in Kymry and main financial backer to the Labour party. Hall won 57.6% of the vote compared to Clarke's 42.4% taking the majority of PLP, CLP and affiliated trade union block votes which enabled her to be elected as Labour leader, taking the role alongside leader of the opposition in February 2003.