The Rt. Ex. Errol Walton Barrow (21 January 1920 – 1 June 1987) was a Caribbean statesman and the first Prime Minister of Barbados. Born into a family of political and civic activists in the parish of Saint Lucy, his sister Dame Nita Barrow also became a social activist, humanitarian leader and later Governor General of Barbados.

Errol Barrow served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He enlisted in the RAF on 31 December 1940 and flew some 45 operational bombing missions over the European Theatre. By 1945 he had risen to the rank of Flying Officer and was appointed as personal navigator to the Commander in Chief of the British Zone of occupied Germany, Sir William Sholto Douglas.

After the war he studied Law at the Inns of Court and economics at the London School of Economics concurrently, taking degrees in 1949 and 1950 respectively. He also served during that time as Chairman of the Council of Colonial Students where his contemporaries included Forbes Burnham, Michael Manley, Pierre Trudeau, and Lee Kwan Yew, all destined to become political leaders in their home countries.

He returned to Barbados in 1950 and was elected to the Barbados parliament in 1951 as a member of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP). Feeling the fever of anti-colonialism he had inculcated during his student days in London, he quickly became dissatisfied by the incremental approach to change advocated by the party stalwarts. In 1955 he founded the Democratic Labour Party as a progressive alternative to the BLP. He became its leader in 1958 and the party won parliamentary elections in 1961 within his constituency of St. John. Barrow served as Premier of Barbados from 1961 until 1966 when, after leading the country to independence from Great Britain, he became Prime Minister. He served continuously in that capacity as well as stints as Minister of Finance, and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the next ten years.

During his tenure the DLP government accelerated industrial development, expanded the tourist industry to reduce the island's economic dependence on sugar, introduced National Health Insurance and Social Security, and expanded free education to all levels.

Barrow was a dedicated proponent of regional integration, spearheading the foundation of the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) in 1965. Eight years later CARIFTA evolved into the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), when Barrow, together with Forbes Burnham of Guyana, Dr. Eric Williams of Trinidad and Michael Manley of Jamaica enacted the treaty of Chaguaramas to bolster political and economic relations between the English-speaking Caribbean territories.

After another landslide victory in 1971, the DLP returned to the electorate in 1976 for a mandate after two years of bitter controversy over constitutional amendments put forth by the government. Barrow, who had invited public comment on the amendments verbally lashed out at those who had been critical of what he viewed as a minor procedural change in the appointment of judges. A general economic downturn which affected most countries in the hemisphere contributed to a shift in public sentiment resulting in the party's election defeat.

As an indomitable advocate of Caribbean sovereignty he fiercely opposed interference in Caribbean affairs. As opposition leader in 1983 he spoke out forcefully against the U.S. invasion of Grenada and he was scathing in his criticism of other Caribbean leaders who kow-towed to Washington in the hope of getting economic handouts:

"Mr. Seaga (Prime Minister of Jamaica, Edward Seaga) thinks that the solution to Jamaica's problems is to get President Reagan to play Santa Claus. I do not believe in Santa Claus."

In May 1986, after 10 years in opposition, Barrow was re-elected as Prime Minister in a landslide victory in which the DLP won 24 of 27 seats in the House of Assembly. The campaign was notable for an address he gave at a political rally some two weeks before the election which came to be known as the 'Mirror Image' speech. In it, Barrow rhetorically asked Barbadians what kind of a future they saw for themselves when they looked in the mirror; contrasting a life of menial labour as an emigré in the developed world, or staying and building a strong and independent Barbados to rival other small states like Singapore.

His re-election served as a catalyst for resurgent nationalism in the region, which by and large had subordinated itself to U.S. aid policy in the early 1980s. Barrow wasted no time in distancing himself from the "mendicant mentality" of his predecessors J.M.G. Adams and Bernard St. John. In his first press conference as Prime Minister he referred to Reagan as "that cowboy in the White House". In a British interview he characterized the President of the United States as "a zombie; he's programmed, a very dangerous person".

He chastised Washington for its treatment of not only the Caribbean states, but also of Canada and the United Kingdom which he described as Barbados' closest allies. His political opponents deemed his attacks on Reagan as "tactically stupid", but for most Barbadians his outspokenness meant that 'The Skipper' was back.

A year after his re-election, Prime Minister Errol Barrow collapsed and died at his home on 1 June 1987.

Posthumously declared a National Hero, Barbados honours his legacy as the 'Father of Independence' by marking his birthday, January 21, as a national holiday. His visage is inscribed on the $50 Bds bill, and the official government of Barbados website proclaims:

He found Barbados a collection of villages, and transformed it into a proud nation.

John Michael Geoffrey Manningham Adams (September 24, 1931 -March 11, 1985) known better as "Tom" Adams, was a Barbadian politician. He was the only son of Grantley Adams (a lawyer and the only Prime Minister of the West Indies Federation) and Grace Adams, née Thorne.

Adams was educated at Harrison College, Barbados, from which he won a Barbados Scholarship to Magdalen College of the University of Oxford. He served as the Prime Minister of Barbados between 1976 and 1985. His party, the Barbados Labour Party (BLP), had capitalized on the population's desire for a change from Errol Barrow's Democratic Labour Party (DLP), which had governed the island since independence in 1966. Adams moved the island in the direction of Thatcher's Britain and Reagan's USA, reflecting the conservatism of the early 80's. This alliance found its greatest expression when Tom Adams was the leading proponent in the grouping of Eastern Caribbean states which asked Reagan to intervene in overthrowing the Cuban-backed communist regime of Maurice Bishop in Grenada. Barbados was used as a staging point for some of the U.S. forces, and a nominal contingent of the Barbados Defence Force accompanied in the invasion force's wake, not least to allow (as Barrow claimed) Reagan to gild the statistics. The Bajan population was of two minds about Adams's move, generally conceding that Bishop had moved Grenada too far, but being uneasy with Reagan's US heavy-handedness. Nevertheless, Adam's BLP was tipped to win the upcoming elections, but he died of a heart attack at Illaro Court, the Prime Minister's official residence, on March 11, 1985. His deputy-PM, Bernard St. John, succeeded him but the Bajan population was dissatisfied and turned back to the other political giant of those years, Errol Barrow, and his DLP in the subsequent election in 1986. Ironically, Barrow too would die in office shortly after his election victory.

The six-story building in Bridgetown which houses the Central Bank of Barbados is today known as the Tom Adams Financial Centre in his honour.

Sir Harold Bernard St. John (16 August 1931 - 29 February 2004) was a Barbadian politician who served as Prime Minister of Barbados from 1985 to 1986. He was leader of the Barbados Labour Party from 1970 to 1971 and again from 1985 to 1987. He was widely known as "Bree".

St. John, affectionately known as "Bree" was born in Christ Church, Barbados. He was professionally trained as a lawyer at the University of London. He joined the Barbados Labour Party in 1959, before independence from the United Kingdom. After independence in 1966, he was elected to the Barbados House of Assembly. He served as a member of the Upper Chamber between 1971 and 1976 as a member of the Opposition.

He left the Upper House when he was re-elected to the House of Assembly in 1976 when his party under J.M.G. Adams won the election. He served in numerous cabinet positions in the 1970s including deputy prime minister, minister of trade and industry, and minister of tourism where he did his most influential work in developing the tourism industry in Barbados. When Adams died in 1985 St. John became Prime Minister. He was defeated in the 1986 elections by Errol Barrow and the Democratic Labour Party.

In 1994 when the BLP regained power, he did not return to Cabinet and served instead as a backbencher under Owen Arthur. Hon. Billie Antoinette Miller was appointed Deputy Prime Minister. He was later knighted that year. In 2004, Bernard St. John died of cancer in Bridgetown.

Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford (born 24 March 1937) is a Barbadian politician. He served as Prime Minister of Barbados from 1987 to 1994.

Sandiford was born in Barbados and studied at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in English. He then studied at Britain's University of Manchester, receiving his Master's degree in economics and social studies. Sandiford returned to Barbados, where he joined the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). In 1967, one year after independence, he was appointed to the Senate. Sandiford left the Senate to run in the 1971 election, in which he won a seat in the House of Assembly. The DLP, under Errol Barrow, formed the government; Sandiford served in many cabinet positions including as minister of education. In 1976, the DLP lost the election to the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and formed the opposition.

In 1986, the DLP was again voted into power. Sandiford was made deputy prime minister to Barrow. In 1987, Barrow died prematurely and Sandiford was appointed prime minister. He led the DLP to victory in the 1991 elections. In 1994 Sandiford narrowly won a no confidence motion brought against him by the opposition when a number of members of his own party broke ranks and voted in support of the motion. Sandiford then called elections two years before they were constitutionally due, but lost to the BLP led by Owen Arthur. He remained in parliament until 1999 and is currently a tutor at the Barbados Community College, where he teaches economics.

Owen Seymour Arthur, MP, BA, MSc. (born 17 October 1949) was the Prime Minister of Barbados from 1994 to 2008.

He is leader of the Barbados Labour Party, which brought him to victory in general elections in September 1994. He won general elections again in January 1999 and 2003. In the 2008 general election, his party lost the elections to the Democratic Labour Party and their leader David Thompson. Owen Arthur is currently the member of parliament for the constituency of Saint Peter.

David John Howard Thompson, MP (born December 1961, London^[1][2]) has been the Prime Minister of Barbados since January 2008.

Thompson came to politics in a by-election after the death of Prime Minister Errol Barrow, gaining his parliamentary seat for Saint John in 1987.^[1][2]

Whilst Erskine Sandiford was in office as Prime Minister, Thompson served as Minister of Community Development and Culture from 1991 to 1993. He was subsequently appointed Minister of Finance from 1993 to 1994 and launched a process of restructuring the Barbados economy after it had undergone an IMF stabilization programme. He became leader of the DLP after Sandiford resigned after losing a parliamentary no confidence motion and unsuccessfully led the Democratic Labour Party in elections in 1994 and 1999. He resigned as party leader in September 2001 following his third electoral defeat as party leader in the St. Thomas by-election. However, when party leader Clyde Mascoll switched allegiance to the Barbados Labour Party, Thompson once again became opposition leader^[1][2] in January 2006.^[1]

The DLP won the general election held on January 15, 2008 with 20 seats against 10 for the Barbados Labour Party, which was led by former Prime Minister Owen Arthur. Thompson was sworn in as Prime Minister on January 16,^[3] becoming Barbados' sixth prime minister and the third to serve under the DLP.^{[citation needed]} Thompson was also re-elected to his own seat from St. John constituency with 84% of the vote.^[4] He announced his Cabinet on January 19, including himself as Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Development, Labour, Civil Service and Energy; it was sworn in on January 20.^[5]

List of Governors-General of Barbados

On 30 November 1966, Barbados achieved independence from Britain.

                   Sir John Montague Stow, 30 November 1966–18 May 1967

                   Sir Arleigh Winston Scott, 18 May 1967–9 August 1976

                   Sir William Douglas, 9 August–17 November 1976, acting, first time

                   Sir Deighton Lisle Ward, 17 November 1976–9 January 1984

                   Sir William Douglas, 10 January–24 February 1984, acting, second time

                   Sir Hugh Springer, 24 February 1984–6 June 1990

                   Dame Nita Barrow, 6 June 1990–19 December 1995

                   Sir Denys Williams, 19 December 1995–1 June 1996, acting