Mike Behrens

Michael Joseph "Mike" Behrens (/ˈbɛrənz/; born 16 December 1933) is an Enderronian former politician who served as the 32nd Prime Minister of Enderron, from 1986 to 1990. He was the leader of the centre-right United Party from 1979 to 1991, and was a member of the Enderronian Parliament from 1966 to 1970 and 1974 to 1992, representing the electorate of Wolseley in southern Forsythia, New Surrey. He was the only non-Social Democrat leader to serve as prime minister between 1970 and 2002.

Behrens was born in Victoria, Plymouth, and grew up in the Monash Region of New Surrey. Before entering politics, he worked as a teacher and school administrator. He was elected to the Forsythia City Council in 1962, and served until he was elected to the newly created electorate of Wolseley in the 1966 federal election. He was defeated in the 1970 election, amidst the Social Democratic Party's landslide victory, but returned as the member at the 1974 election. In 1976, he was appointed to the shadow cabinet of Martin Crowley, serving as the Shadow Minister for Health (1976–1978), then Shadow Treasurer (1978–1979).

In March 1979, five months after the 1978 election, Behrens resigned from the shadow cabinet, and challenged Crowley for the leadership of the United Party. Behrens narrowly defeated Crowley in a caucus vote and became party leader, and therefore the Leader of the Opposition.

After remaining neck-and-neck with the Social Democrats in opinion polling, Behrens and the United Party entered the 1982 election campaign with a slight lead. The momentum was lost in the final weeks of the campaign, and the Social Democrats, led by James Thorpe, were re-elected to a fourth term in government, with a slightly increased majority. Behrens offered to resign as United Party leader, but was encouraged to stay on. He led the United Party into the 1986 election, winning a plurality but falling two seats short of a majority; a coalition government was formed between United and the Conservative Party, allowing Behrens to become Prime Minister.

The Behrens Government implemented a significant number of economic reforms, in a shift from previous governments. Under Behrens' administration, the Enderronian dollar was floated, the financial sector was deregulated, the Enderronian Fuel Corporation (now Fuelcorp) was fully privatised, the National Bank of Enderron was partially privatised, Enderron Post and Enderron Telecom were corporatised, and a free trade agreement with Batavia was signed. Under the influence of the Conservative Party, the Behrens Government also rolled back some of the Thorpe Government's more socially progressive policies – it abolished compulsory superannuation, increased restrictions on abortion and child adoption, limited Medicare to paying customers only, and decreased immigration levels.

Behrens' coalition government was continually rocked by instability and policy disputes between United and the Conservatives, and the two parties failed to reach an agreement to continue the coalition beyond the 1990 election, deciding instead to contest the election separately. Behrens was never very personally popular as prime minister, and was frequently overshadowed by his deputy and Conservative Party leader Jonathan Bowen. During the term the United Party began to haemorrhage significant electoral support to the Conservatives; on several occasions the Conservatives came close to overtaking United in opinion polling throughout 1989 and 1990, and United's first preference polling numbers reached all-time lows. Although the numbers tightened closer to election day, the United Party was soundly defeated by the Social Democrats at the 1990 election, and Behrens was succeeded by Helen Vandenberg as Prime Minister. He survived a leadership challenge, and continued as the leader of the United Party, returning to the position of Leader of the Opposition until he resigned as party leader in May 1991. He subsequently sat on the backbench until he resigned from parliament in April 1992; his seat was won by the Conservative Party at the ensuing by-election. He has since pursued a business career and remained active as a political commentator. He has been the oldest living former Prime Minister of Enderron since the death of Calvin Rhinehart in 2003.

Behrens' time in office is generally seen as average, with most praise going towards the economic reforms implemented by his government. The social policies of his administration hold a more controversial legacy, and many were reversed by the succeeding Vandenberg Government. His tenure also ranks low in terms of political stability and overall memorability.