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Franklin Pedro Eddington, or as he is more commonly known, Frank Eddington, is a former Wiltshirian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of Wiltshire from January 3016 until January 3019. Eddington served for 3 years as the longest-serving Wiltshirian head of government in history.
Eddington's election as Prime Minister was a rejection of years of Conservative rule in Wiltshire. The 3015 Economic Crisis highlighted many issues and inequalities in Wiltshire, which the Socialist Party was able to capitalise on in the January 3016 Election. This election saw the highest voter turnout in history as 85.6% of Wiltshirians cast their ballots. Eddington was convincingly as many first time voters voted for him. Eddington was in power and now had to prove it.
Eddington had the risk of falling into the category of the two Socialist Leaders that came before him; Thomas Shore and Renly Stork. Two Socialist Prime Ministers with ambitions too big, ultimately leading to their failure and demise. Eddington needed a different approach. Eddington became known as the Leader of the Centre-Left. The perception of the Socialists being "far-left" was over as Eddington embraced a hybrid capitalistic system with regulation and government support. This allowed him to achieve many progressive priorities such as Universal Healthcare and National Insurance (two things that very few countries had). Wiltshirians finally had a real social safety net and the National Insurance system would become the most popular government programme in Doggerland.
Eddington's ability to make such sweeping reforms allowed him to maintain his popularity and continued his success with continued landslide victories. However, with the rise of Wiltshire First in 3017 and the 3017 Corporate Depression, Eddington's popularity started to fall off. By the start of 3018, Eddington did not seem like the invisible leader he once did. In the July 3018 Election, Eddington lost his majority. He was forced to continue through a confidence and supply deal with the Communist Party. This also fell apart as following the November 3018 Wiltshire General Election, the Socialist Party lost so many seats that Eddington's position became untenable. Eddington made it clear that he would resign once stable government was assured. Following two by-election defeats, Audrick Hill's Conservative Party (Wiltshire) was able to provide that stable government in a coalition with Wiltshire First and the Liberals. Eddington resigned on New Year's Day, 3019 and Hill became the 9th Prime Minister. Audrick Hill's government made many adjustments to Eddington's Social Democracy-dream. However, the most notable of these was the repealing of the Universal Healthcare Act.