Supreme Councillor Raymond Bradbury

Councillor Bradbury is the Quadrant 7 High Council representative for Xynam, a long-established colony world with a very conservative political tradition. Levels of public interest in politics on Xynam are very low, and it sometimes appears that the political elite there has deliberately fostered this by their manufacture of a succession of bland grey suits. Barriers to entering politics are high on-planet, so that anyone wanting to run must have a considerable groundswell of support among the movers and shakers to stand any chance of winning. Bradbury is no exception to this tradition, having worked his way up through the back corridors of power as a career civil servant and administrator, glad-handing the various power blocks of the capital. He won his position as High Councillor for Xynam by 51% to 49% against an equally drab opponent with an indistinguishable platform on a 12% turnout. He has always denied that he wanted to lose the election to have a crack at running for the Martian Senate (High Councillor positions for Xynam are life tenures).

In spite of this, he has brought calm and reflection to the mercurial world of Martian politics. A consensus politician by instinct, as Supreme Councillor he has managed to turn the factional and fractious Q7 Regional High Council into an orderly machine of sensible, centrist government. In the international arena it has been much the same story; he prefers backroom deals and negotiations and carefully pre-planned treaties to bluster and bullying, while simultaneously maintaining Mars' traditionally stand-offish and isolationist stance within the quadrant (or "even-handed approach" as he would probably describe it…).

However, in the wake of the Exterminator War a different side to Councillor Bradbury seems to have emerged. He has also been highly critical of the response of central governments to the crisis, and has tried to exert leadership and influence outside of his Quadrant in an attempt to change the direction of national policy. Bradbury has always prided himself on his sense of history and his ability to see the bigger picture. It remains to be seen whether this new approach is mere political opportunism to increase his own powers, or the principled stand he claims it is, threatening to destabilise the already unstable MAFC.

Retirement

Bradbury retired from the Q7 High Council in 3233, aged 108 after more than 40 years as Supreme Councillor and nearly 80 years in Martian politics. He remains involved in the life of Quadrant 7 as the Chair of the Quadrant Health Organisation. His parting remarks at his final interstellar summit meeting on Potomax included the memorable words "Humanity Works Best When It Works Together".