Madeline Woods

Madeline Sophia "Maddy" Woods (b. October 3, 1977) is a Georgeland Conservative politician, currently serving as Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Georgeland. Since 2002, Woods has been a Member of the Georgeland House of Commons representing the Santa Christina-based seat of Enfield.

Madeline Woods, MP

Woods was elected at the election of 2002, replacing the retiring Steven Stackman. Woods, 25 at the time, became the youngest woman ever elected to the House. Prior to her election she had been a full-time economics student at the University of Santa Christina, and President of the University's Student Union.
In 2005, she was appointed to the Opposition front bench as Shadow Minister for Arts and Communications. Young, dynamic, attractive and vibrant, Woods was often called the "Tory Glamour Girl" and appears from time to time in photo shoots that showcase her difference from other Conservative politicians.
Woods is part of the moderate grouping of Tory MPs. She holds very liberal positions on a number of issues, including abortion, women's rights, immigration and stem cell research. She was one of a small number of Conservatives who supported the bill to legalise same-sex marriage in the party room, though she voted against it in Parliament.
Following the Conservative victory in the 2007 election, Woods was made Minister for Sport, Tourism and Youth. She was and remains the youngest member of the federal ministry and the youngest woman ever to hold a ministerial portfolio.
In March 2009, Woods was promoted into Cabinet as Environment Minister. At the age of 31, Woods became the second-youngest-ever Cabinet Minister (at 31 years, 4 months, she was three months older than Campbell Rhodes on his appointment to Cabinet in 1994). She is the youngest woman to have served in Cabinet.

When the Tories lost office in 2010, Woods denied any interest in the leadership, and was appointed Shadow Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Resources by new leader James Bradford, and retained it under subsequent leader Matthieu Solberg.

In December 2014, Woods resigned from the Conservative front bench in protest at the party's opposition to the Carbon Pricing Commission, a new body establisged by the Porter government. The party's leader, Lisa Chan, was a climate change skeptic, something she shared with a considerable section of the party. Woods made a speech attacking Chan and the Tory "dinosaurs" who opposed action on climate change, which was highly-regarded and made international headlines.

Polls continued to show the Tories well behind the government, and Chan's approval ratings were lower than either of her predecessor's. Despite Woods' stance on climate change and other social issues, considerable movement inside the party grew for her to become leader in order to make the Tories more appealing and attract new voters, and to "modernise" the party, something Woods has long claimed as a goal. On January 28, after another disastrous poll showing the Tories would be reduced to a rump were an election held that week, Woods announced she would challenge Chan for the leadership, in the first ever contest between two women for leadershop of tje Conservatives. Woods defeated Chan, and became Leader of the Opposition.

Woods first action upon becoming leader was to declare "all policies on the table" and pledged that the Tory Party would be "turning over a new page" in its history. She subsequently declared she was "not wedded" to many Tory traditions, up to and including the party's name. Woods also spoke of trying to bring the Georgeland Alliance into the fold, saying the radical centre should be the Conservative Party's domain.

In her first poll as Opposition Leader, Woods achieved an approval rating of 53%, and trailed Lawrence Porter as Preferred Prime Minister by only nine points, 54% to 45%. Her first poll as leader also showed the Tories with 47.6% of the two-party vote, an increase of seven over Chan's last result.

Woods has been a regular panelist on the GBC's Here Isn't The News program, her performance being acclaimed as witty and relaxed on all occasions.

Woods' partner has been solicitor Roy Joseph since 2003. They have three children; Anna Rose (b. May 2007), Nicola Jasmine (b. Feb 2010) and Thomas Patrick (b. July 2012)