Tom Woodlands

Thomas Winston "Tom" Woodlands (born 25 May 1960) is a former Enderronian politician and author who served as the Prime Minister of Enderron from 2014 to 2015 and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Enderron from 2006 to 2015. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 2006 to 2014. He represented the seat of Lyndhurst in the Enderronian Parliament from 1998 to 2018. In office for just over one year, Woodlands is the second-shortest serving Prime Minister in Enderronian post-independence history after William Watt, and by far the shortest-serving among Prime Ministers who won an election.

Woodlands initially worked as a biographer and author, publishing several notable works during the 1980s and 1990s. After a short stint as a trade union official, he entered parliament at the 1998 federal election, winning the safe seat of Lyndhurst in Forsythia's outer suburbs. He entered the Shadow Ministry in 2002 under new SDP leader Jason Huynh, serving as Shadow Minister for Education (2002–2004) and then Defence (2004–2006). Following the Social Democrats' loss in the 2006 federal election, Woodlands challenged Huynh to the leadership and won the ensuing leadership election, becoming the Leader of the Opposition.

Under Woodlands, the Social Democrats made a leftward shift in policy to challenge the increasing popularity of the Enderronian Greens. The party made a modest recovery in the 2010 federal election, but was unable to gain the swing needed to win government. In the following election in 2014, Woodlands became Prime Minister after the SDP won a plurality of seats and formed a minority government with the support of the Greens and an independent.

The Woodlands Government was short-lived. Almost immediately after becoming Prime Minister, Woodlands' popularity declined following a series of policy reversals and gaffes at the 2014 APEC summit. The opposition Liberal Party of Enderron took a substantial lead in opinion polling less than three months after the election, which only widened following the 2015 budget which was poorly received by the electorate. A number of by-elections held in mid-2015 resulted in heavy swings away from the Social Democrats; the party lost the Wentworth seat of Franklin to the Liberals, leaving the government without a working majority in parliament. In September 2015, Woodlands was accused of misleading an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation, and subsequently lost the support of a majority of the SDP caucus. As a result of the scandal, Woodlands faced the possibility of a vote of no confidence and a potential snap election, after the Greens threatened to revoke confidence and supply to the minority government. He was challenged by deputy leader and Deputy Prime Minister Lisa Kelsey Chan for the leadership on 29 September 2015, triggering a leadership spill. Woodlands was heavily defeated by Chan in the ensuing ballot of the parliamentary party as well as the rank-and-file membership, who succeeded him as leader and consequently Prime Minister on 3 November 2015. Woodlands moved to the backbench and retired at the 2018 federal election.

Scholars and historians generally place Woodlands in the bottom tier of Enderronian prime ministers. His tenure as leader of the opposition has been viewed more favourably than his prime ministership, with political experts praising his bipartisanship, campaigning skills, and knowledge of parliamentary procedure.