WILLIAMS - ERA OF EIGHT PARTY POLITICS HAS ARRIVEDIn a statement delivered in the Porterhouse district of Fort William today, the so-called 'Finger of Four', consisting of Roy Maclennan, Dr David Williams, Shirley Jenkins, and Gwynoro Ellis, blasted the existing left-wing parties in Luthori, and announcing the foundation of a new Democratic Socialist Party:
The calamitous outcome of the Socialist Parties Fort William congress demands a new start in Luthori politics. A handful of trade union leaders can now dictate the choice of a future Imperial Seal-Bearer. This is the final straw for parties which have been set on this course for the last twenty years. From the actions of the bellicose minority, to the accusations of corruption from former Members of the Diet such as Cleethorpes – it is now apparent that the socialist parties of Luthori are no longer a parties committed to parliamentary government.
In light of these changes, we propose in this document to begin a new force in the Luthori polity. Ours will be a Council of Democratic Socialism – with a commitment to rally and represent all Luthori who still hold the aforementioned principle of democratic socialism.
Answering questions after the formal declaration, Dr. David Williams, the new party's foreign affairs spokesman, said that the party's aim was to "break the mould" of Luthori politics:
It is our belief that the people of Luthori are tired of the same old seven-party system which has dominated Luthori political life for far too long. Our intention in the Democratic Socialist Party is simple: we intend to break the mould of Luthori politics, and usher in a new age of energetic, eight-party politics.
Phones are reported to have rung continuously at the party's new headquarters in Scrope Street with enquirers seeking information and membership of the new party, but questions remain about this new project. Sir Clement Smith, the former leader of the Liberal Unionist Party which split contentiously from the Liberal Revolutionary Party three years ago, is said to have claimed the new party should be "strangled at birth". The party's new leader, Mr. Jeremy Steel, dismissed the notion, and said he "welcomed" the development, saying he hoped it would help to "democratise and revolutionise the rather staid, dogged situation in which the country now finds itself", but declined to comment on his disgraced predecessor's words.