Conservative Loyalist Party

Leader: Fritz von Buchholtz

Disbanded:February 2007

The Conservative Loyalist Party, or CLP, was an important political party in Talossa in the mid-2000's.

Led by Fritz von Buchholtz, who had been asked by King Robert I to become a Talossan citizen to fuel immigration in the aftermath of the devastation of Talossan citizenry caused by the 2004 schism creating the Talossan Republic, the CLP emerged as the primary opposition to the Black Hand (MN) party backed by Robert I.

Advocating a more politically-limited monarchy, the party grew quickly, raising suspicions in Robert I that von Buchholtz, as Immigration Minister, was inflating the ranks of the CLP at the expense of the MN. The King's call for the publication of the CLP party member list were resisted, which only further infuriated the King, and during the run-up to the elections to the 34th Cosa, with MN support dwindling, the CLP's insistence on more open access to Talossan language learning materials finally led Robert to declare his own abdication and renunciation of citizenship.

Von Buchholtz was appointed Prime Minister to replace the renounced Marcus Cantaloûr, giving the CLP its first leaderhip position. The CLP took a majority in the elections to both the 35th (returning von Buchholtz to the Seneschalsqab) and 36th (installing Samuhel Tecladeir as Prime Minister) Cosas.

After the abdication of Louis, which was actively precipitated by von Buchholtz telephoning the mother of the King to receive her request that Louis be removed from the throne, the CLP leadership favoured keeping the throne vacant in hopes that an Old Growth citizen (or a reformed Robert I himself) would eventually accept it. This position, however, proved unpopular with many CLP voters, who transferred their allegiance to the RUMP, which advocated prompt enactment of the provisions of Organic Law mandating that the throne be filled by election. The defection of CLP party members to the RUMP during the Seneschalsqab of Prime Minister Tecladeir actually made the CLP a minority party in the Cosa, but the government maintained the confidence of the Cosa until its scheduled dissolution.

Just before the election to the 37th Cosa, von Buchholtz declared that the CLP was disbanded. The nearness of this declaration to the election caused a number of uninformed voters to cast their votes for the now-defunct CLP, and these seats were filled by royal appointment of the newly-installed King John, and so technically, the CLP was represented in the 37th Cosa before taking its place in Talossan history.

The CLP was instrumental in the creation of the properly restricted constitutional monarchy extant in Talossa today. Its leaders were constantly sympathetic to the Talossan Republic and the opinions of the citizens of that Republic as regards the behaviour of King Robert I that had caused them to renounce their citizenship in 2004. A personal friend to many Republicans, CLP party leader von Buchholtz and his party constantly hoped that the Kingdom would become a place to which those who had departed would feel encouraged to return.

Following the dissolution of the party, the leaders of the CLP were awarded the Order of the Cincinnatus for their successful efforts to preserve and improve Talossa through the crises of 2005.