NAME: Spencer Berkeley.
AGE: 38.
PLACE OF BIRTH: Guildford, United Kingdom.
AFFILIATION: The Hathaway Family.
OCCUPATION: MP for Epsom and Ewell. Chief Whip.
FACE CLAIM: Scott Eastwood.
AVAILABILITY: TAKEN.
“How did you even get elected?”
“Firstly? You can take your shitty tone and shove it up your arse. You lost your seat, you reprobate. Secondly? I got elected because I’m fucking charming. People don’t want honesty. They want someone to smile big, and make them feel like they matter for ten seconds of their miserable lives.”
And that was exactly what he was good at.
Clearly, it must have been some solid wisdom on his part, because it was exactly what had dragged him from his journalistic career and plunged him into the solid Tory seat of Epsom and Ewell. The people there loved him because they didn’t know him. They just knew his name.
The Berkeley family had been Westminster royalty for generations. Spencer’s grandfather sits as a hereditary peer in the House of Lords, and his father is a dedicated MP and (formerly) one of the longest serving Foreign Secretaries in British history. His mother, a woman comparably gentler to her husband and father-in-law, is a kind-hearted philanthropist who once served several constituencies over a now-ended political career spanning most of her adult life.
Staying in the political sphere was worthwhile because there, Spencer’s familial influence was enough to keep him in the good graces of those who mattered. It was probably a good thing given that his abrasive attitude didn’t always earn him favour with everyone else.
Eton had scolded him constantly for conduct unbecoming, and yet the teachers could never truly hate him because he was so fucking good at winning people back ten seconds after verbally throat-punching them. The professors at the prestigious St. Andrews University were less forgiving, however, and when he was kicked off his International Relations course for a characteristic mixture of cocaine and threatening to head-butt a professor that under-marked his paper, it was only his father’s influence that could save his already questionable reputation by keeping said indiscretions under wraps.
Spencer wasn’t used to hearing no, because he’d never heard it growing up. He got what he wanted, when he wanted it, without having to lift a finger. It made him lazy because he was more interested in learning how to manipulate people into saying yes than working for things himself. So, when his father threatened to cut him off entirely unless he got his shit together, it was a dire wakeup call. Against the odds, the man got him into LSE to study Politics and Communications, and even managed to get him an internship at The Spectator (a political magazine he was once the editor of) to put him on the right track.
Even though Spencer didn’t appreciate the stark fucking reality check, he was intelligent enough to realise that his father wasn’t a man to be crossed. Politics might’ve been a familiar way of life to a man who’d known nothing else, but he grew to love it all on his own. It was a game. Backstabbing and manipulation and point-scoring; all of his favourite things rolled into one. Covering it as a journalist was an entirely new perspective, and he had such a talent with words that the BBC, The Telegraph and The Spectator constantly battled to keep his attention. He was not kind. He didn’t refuse to print for the sake of someone’s career, he didn’t shy away from bullying a story out of someone, and he definitely didn’t go easy on the moronic Labour opposition. Eventually, however, writing about the dirty world of politics no longer sustained him—he wanted to be a part of it.
Putting his degree to good use, he started out life in Westminster as the Communications Director for one of London’s up-and-coming Conservative MPs. It was a fast-paced job that he absolutely excelled at. Spencer knew how to deal with the press because he had been it for the last ten years of his life. The connections he’d made in the journalistic world were invaluable, because he could control the coverage about his candidate whilst simultaneously leaking stories about opponents, no questions asked. The man might’ve been an asshole—one that had made plenty of enemies during his time as a journalist—but even those that despised him respected him for his talent and sheer willingness to do whatever it took to get the job done.
Though he’d never planned to run for a seat himself, when the Conservative Party approached him as a potential candidate for Epsom and Ewell, he jumped at the chance.
Spencer is relatively new to the job—only having been elected in the 2017 General Election—but he is already causing waves within his party. Some question whether his immediate appointment as a Parliamentary Whip has more to do with his familial influence, but he’s not insecure enough to believe it as a sign of anything more than his skill…or that he’s like a rabid fucking bulldog that people are scared to say no to. He is loyal to the party to a fault, and they love him for it. Spencer still has a little black book from his time a journalist that he adds to constantly, full of every little secret he never exposed about those in power. Better saved for a rainy day; especially now he might have to wrangle a few rebellious, London backbenchers into adopting a party line they mightn’t necessarily agree with.
RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single. Evelyn Whitmore (ex-wife, unplayable)
FAMILY: Charlene, Cecelia, Edward, Ethan Hathaway (cousins), Elliot, Everett Hathaway (cousins, unplayable), Colette Hathaway (cousin, deceased), Vivienne Hathaway (paternal aunt, unplayable)
CONNECTIONS:
Charlene Hathaway: Cousin. Whilst he has a good relationship with all of the Hathaway children, his friendship with the twins—Charlene, particularly—has always been the strongest. Spencer appreciates that they share the same cutthroat and savage approach to competition, and sitting back and judging the peasants with her is one of his favorite pastimes. He’s immensely glad she’s in London permanently.
Margaret Huang: Old Friend. They met whilst working at The Telegraph relatively early on in their careers, and despite his move into politics, they remained friends after. Their arrangement now is mutually beneficial. Spencer often uses Maggie to leak information that he probably shouldn’t and knows that he can trust her not to reveal him as her source inside Westminster if she gets a good story out of it.
