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This is a list of prime ministers of Barbados .
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This is a list of prime ministers of Barbados .
| Barbados Labour (2) Democratic Labour (1) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Election | Term of office | Political party | Governor | ||
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||||
| 1 |  | The Right Excellent Sir Grantley Herbert Adams CMG QC MP for Saint Joseph (1898–1971) | 1951 | 1 February 1954 | 17 April 1958 | 4 years, 75 days | BLP | Sir Alfred Savage Brigadier Robert Arundell |
| 1956 | ||||||||
| 2 |  | Hugh Gordon Cummins MP for Saint Thomas (1891–1970) | — | 17 April 1958 | 8 December 1961 | 3 years, 235 days | BLP | Brigadier Sir Robert Arundell Sir John Montague Stow |
| 3 |  | The Right Excellent Errol Barrow PC QC MP for Saint John (1920–1987) | 1961 | 8 December 1961 | 30 November 1966 | 4 years, 357 days | DLP | Sir John Montague Stow |
| Democratic Labour Party (4) Barbados Labour Party (4) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Election | Term of office | Political party | Governor-General | ||
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||||
| 1 | | The Right Excellent Errol Barrow PC QC MP for Saint John (1920–1987) | 1966 | 30 November 1966 | 8 September 1976 | 9 years, 283 days | DLP | Sir John Montague Stow Sir Arleigh Winston Scott |
| 1971 | ||||||||
| 2 |  | The Right Honourable John "Tom" Adams QC MP for Saint Thomas (1931–1985) | 1976 | 8 September 1976 | 11 March 1985 | 8 years, 184 days [†] | BLP | Sir Deighton Lisle Ward Sir Hugh Springer |
| 1981 | ||||||||
| 3 |  | The Right Honourable Sir Bernard St. John KA MP for Christ Church East Central (1931–2004) | — | 11 March 1985 | 29 May 1986 | 1 year, 79 days | BLP | Sir Hugh Springer |
| (1) | | The Right Excellent Errol Barrow PC QC MP for Saint John (1920–1987) | 1986 | 29 May 1986 | 1 June 1987 | 1 year, 3 days [†] | DLP | Sir Hugh Springer |
| 4 |  | The Right Honourable Sir Erskine Sandiford KA PC MP for Saint Michael South (1937–2023) | — | 1 June 1987 | 7 September 1994 | 7 years, 98 days | DLP | Sir Hugh Springer Dame Nita Barrow |
| 1991 | ||||||||
| 5 |  | The Right Honourable Owen Arthur PC MP for Saint Peter (1949–2020) | 1994 | See also § Arthur Cabinet | BLP | Dame Nita Barrow Sir Clifford Husbands | ||
| 7 September 1994 | 16 January 2008 | 13 years, 131 days | ||||||
| 1999 | ||||||||
| 2003 | ||||||||
| 6 |  | The Honourable David Thompson QC MP for Saint John (1961–2010) | 2008 | 16 January 2008 | 23 October 2010 | 2 years, 280 days [†] | DLP | Sir Clifford Husbands |
| 7 |  | The Right Honourable Freundel Stuart PC QC MP for Saint Michael South (born 1951) | — | See also § Stuart Cabinet | DLP | Sir Clifford Husbands Sir Elliott Belgrave Dame Sandra Mason | ||
| 23 October 2010 | 25 May 2018 | 7 years, 214 days | ||||||
| 2013 | ||||||||
| 8 |  | The Honourable Mia Mottley QC MP for Saint Michael North East (born 1965) | 2018 | 25 May 2018 | 30 November 2021 | 3 years, 189 days | BLP | Dame Sandra Mason |
| Barbados Labour (1) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Election | Term of office | Political party | President | ||
| Took office | Left office | Time in office | ||||||
| (8) | | The Honourable Mia Mottley QC MP for Saint Michael North East (born 1965) | 2022 | 30 November 2021 | Incumbent | 3 years, 25 days | BLP | Dame Sandra Mason |
This is a graphical lifespan timeline of prime ministers of Barbados. They are listed in order of office (Barrow is shown in order of his first premiership).
| Colonial Barbados (1953-1966) |
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| Commonwealth Realm (1966-2021) | |
| Republic (From 2021) | |
| Related | |
* Served as Premier of Barbados. | |
The Government of Barbados (GoB) is a unitary parliamentary republic, where the President of Barbados is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Barbados is the head of government.
The politics of Barbados function within a framework of a parliamentary republic with strong democratic traditions; constitutional safeguards for nationals of Barbados include: freedom of speech, press, worship, movement, and association.
Owen Seymour Arthur was a Barbadian politician who served as the fifth prime minister of Barbados from 6 September 1994 to 15 January 2008. He is the longest-serving Barbadian prime minister to date. He also served as Leader of the Opposition from 1 August 1993 to 6 September 1994 and from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013.
The prime minister of Barbados is the head of government of Barbados. The prime minister is appointed by the president under the terms of the Constitution. As the nominal holder of executive authority, the president holds responsibility for conducting parliamentary elections and for proclaiming one of the candidates as prime minister.
The governor-general of Barbados was the representative of the Barbadian monarch from independence in 1966 until the establishment of a republic in 2021. Under the government's Table of Precedence for Barbados, the governor-general of Barbados was regarded as being the most important of all personnel of the Barbados government.
Jon Michael Geoffrey Manningham Adams, known as Tom Adams, was a Barbadian politician who served as the second Prime Minister of Barbados from 1976 until 1985.
Elections in Barbados are held to choose members to fill elective offices in the House of Assembly. Elections are held on Election Day. These general elections do not have fixed dates, but must be called within five years of the opening of parliament following the last election. A former minister of the DLP, Warwick Franklin summed up the general elections process in Barbados as saying it is really just, "30 by-elections on the same day."
Sir Harold Bernard St. John, KA was a Barbadian politician who served as the third prime minister of Barbados from 1985 to 1986. To date, he is the shortest serving Barbadian prime minister. He was leader of the Barbados Labour Party from 1970 to 1971 and again from 1985 to 1987. He was widely known as Bree.
The Parliament of Barbados is the national legislature of Barbados. It is accorded legislative supremacy by Chapter V of the Constitution of Barbados. The Parliament is bicameral in composition and is formally made up of two houses, an appointed Senate and an elected House of Assembly, as well as the President of Barbados who is indirectly elected by both. Both houses sit in separate chambers in the Parliament Buildings, in the national capital Bridgetown in Saint Michael.
The Senate of Barbados is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Barbados. The Senate is accorded legitimacy by Chapter V of the Constitution of Barbados. It is the smaller of the two chambers. The Senate was established in 1964 to replace a prior body known as the Legislative Council. Besides creating and reviewing Barbadian legislation, the Senate generally reviews approved legislation originating from the House of Assembly. One main constraint on the Senate is that it cannot author monetary or budget-related bills. Most of the non-political appointees to the Senate have been selected by the President of Barbados, from civil society organisations, labour collectives and public associations in Barbados. Prior to Barbados becoming a republic on the 30 November 2021, these functions were performed by the Governor-General, who was the viceroy of the Monarchy of Barbados which has since been abolished.
The House of Assembly of Barbados is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Barbados. It has 30 Members of Parliament (MPs), who are directly elected in single member constituencies using the simple-majority system for a term of five years. The House of Assembly sits roughly 40–45 days a year and is presided over by a Speaker.
The Cabinet are individuals of Barbados which execute the duties of the Government of Barbados. Under a Parliamentary republic, these powers are vested nominally by the President of Barbados, but are exercised in practice by a Cabinet of Ministers, presided over by the Prime Minister of Barbados. The Prime Minister is formally appointed by the President: the President must appoint, as Prime Minister, someone who can control a majority of votes in the House of Assembly. In practice, this is normally the leader of the largest political party or coalition in the house. When there is no clear majority, the president assumers the role of arbitrator and opens negotiations with the leaders of the various political parties, in the hope of finding someone whom a majority will accept as Prime Minister. In the event of that failing to take place, the President must dissolve the House of Assembly and call an early election.
David John Howard Thompson was the sixth prime minister of Barbados from 15 January 2008 until his death from pancreatic cancer on 23 October 2010.
Mia Amor Mottley, is a Barbadian politician and attorney who has served as the eighth prime minister of Barbados since 2018 and as Leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008. Mottley is the first woman to hold either position. She is also Barbados' first prime minister under its republican system, following constitutional changes she introduced that abolished the country's constitutional monarchy.
Freundel Jerome Stuart, OR, PC, SC is a Barbadian politician who served as Prime Minister of Barbados and the leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013; and from 21 February 2013 to 25 May 2018. He succeeded David Thompson, who had died in office on 23 October 2010 from pancreatic cancer.
The Constitution of Barbados is the supreme law under which Barbados is governed. The Constitution provides a legal establishment of the Government of Barbados, as well as legal rights and responsibilities of the public and various other government officers. The Constitution which came into force in 1966 was amended in 1974, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. The 1966 document succeeds several other documents concerning administration of Barbados. One of them, the Barbados Charter, is discussed in the present Constitution's Preamble. Prior statutes were created for the administration of Barbados as a colony. As a former English and later British colony, the Constitution is similar to those of other former Commonwealth realms, yet distinctly different in the spirit of the Statute of Westminster.
General elections were held in Barbados on 24 May 2018. The result was a landslide victory for the opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP), which won all 30 seats in the House of Assembly, resulting in BLP leader Mia Mottley becoming the country's first female Prime Minister. The BLP's victory was the first time a party had won every seat in the House of Assembly. Previously, the most one-sided result for a Barbadian election had been in 1999, when the BLP won 26 of the 28 seats. The BLP's 73.5 percent vote share was also the highest on record.
The president of Barbados is the head of state of Barbados and the commander-in-chief of the Barbados Defence Force. The office was established when the country became a parliamentary republic on 30 November 2021. Prior to that date, the head of state was Elizabeth II, Queen of Barbados, who was represented on the island by a governor-general. The final person to hold that position, Sandra Mason, is currently serving as Barbados' first president.
The 2021 Barbadian presidential election was held on 20 October 2021 to choose the first president of Barbados, an office established as part of Barbados becoming a republic. Sandra Mason, the incumbent governor-general of Barbados, was elected president, and she replaced Queen Elizabeth II as head of state of Barbados when she was sworn in on 30 November 2021.
Joseph Junior Sylvester Atherley is a Barbadian religious minister and politician who served as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly of Barbados from 2018 to 2022, and as leader of the People's Party for Democracy and Development since 8 June 2019.
