Freundel Jerome Stuart, OR, PC, SC (born 27 April 1951) is a Barbadian politician who served as seventh

Prime Minister of Barbados The prime minister of Barbados is the head of government of Barbados. The prime minister is appointed by the President of Barbados, president under the terms of the Constitution of Barbados, Constitution. As the nominal holder of executive aut ...

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.

Biography

Personal life and education

Stuart was born in

Saint Philip, Barbados Saint Philip is a parish of Barbados at the easternmost end of the island. Saint Philip’s Parish Church was built as the Anglican parish church in 1640. St. Philip has the largest land area of the 11 parishes of Barbados and has a relatively f ...

. He is the father of one daughter.
An alumnus of the Foundation School (Barbados), Christ Church Foundation School, Stuart is a graduate of the

University of the West Indies at Cave Hill University of the West Indies at Cave Hill is a public research university in Cave Hill, Barbados. It is one of five general campuses in the University of the West Indies system. It was the third campus to be established by the UWI System, follow ...

and holds degrees in

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

. He is a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and his practice encompasses

criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

and corporate law. In 1974, Stuart officially joined the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

and became a Teacher in Princess margaret secondary (PMS). He has supported several community organisations and sponsors the Dayrells United Achievers Community Club and the Notre Dame Sports Club.

Political career

Stuart entered the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in 1970 and served in the

Senate of Barbados 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 repl ...

until 1994. He entered elective politics in 1994 and became a

Member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for St. Philip South until he was defeated by

Barbados Labour Party The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), colloquially known as the "Bees", is a social democratic political party in Barbados established in 1938. Led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, it is the governing party of Barbados and the sole ruling party i ...

representative Anthony Wood in the

1999 Barbadian general election General elections were held in Barbados on 20 January 1999.Nohlen, D (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p90 The result was a landslide victory for the Barbados Labour Party led by Owen Arthur, which won 26 of the 28 ...

. In 2003, Stuart switched

Constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

to St. Michael South but remained as a member of the Democratic Labour Party, he was defeated by Minister for Tourism and Transport Noel Lynch in the

2003 Barbadian general election General elections were held in Barbados on 21 May 2003. Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p90 The result was a victory for the Barbados Labour Party, which won 23 of the 30 seats. Voter turnout was 5 ...

. He contested in St. Michael South again in the

2008 Barbadian general election General elections were held in Barbados on 15 January 2008.constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

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Stuart was elected as 1st vice-president of the Democratic Labour Party (Barbados), DLP and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in 1995. He served in that position until 2004. Stuart was also appointed in 1995 as shadow deputy prime minister, shadow attorney general and shadow

interior minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

to serve in the Shadow Cabinet of David Thompson. He held those three positions until 20 January 2008. In 2004, Stuart was elected as the leader and president of the DLP in a leadership election. Stuart narrowly defeated then DLP Leader

Clyde Mascoll David John Howard The Hon. Clyde Mascoll (born 15 December 1959) is a politician from Barbados. He is a former leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). In 2003, Mascoll unsuccessfully led the party in an election against the ruling Barbados ...

but remained as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, while Thompson remained as Opposition Leader. After the Democratic Labour Party won the

2008 Barbadian general election General elections were held in Barbados on 15 January 2008.deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

Attorney-General of Barbados The Attorney-General of Barbados is the primary legal advisor to the Government of Barbados. Legal basis According to Article 72 of the Constitution of Barbados, the Attorney-General holds ministerial rank in the government. He may, in the case of ...

and

minister of home affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

by Prime Minister David Thompson to serve in his

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. Stuart served in those three positions until May 2010.

7th prime minister of Barbados

Stuart served as acting prime minister of Barbados from May 2010 when Prime Minister David Thompson became ill with pancreatic cancer.

Adriel Brathwaite Adriel Dermont Brathwaite, SC (born 1962) is a Barbadian politician and lawyer, who formally held the positions of Attorney-General, Minister of Home Affairs, and Member of Parliament for Saint Philip South. Career Brathwaite is an attorney-a ...

succeeded Stuart in the positions he then held, namely

attorney-general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and minister of home affairs. Thompson died on 23 October 2010. Leaders of the Democratic Labour Party held an emergency meeting at the party's

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

in George Street in

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Island ...

on the morning of Thompson's death, during which Stuart was chosen as the next Prime Minister. Stuart was sworn in as the 7th Prime Minister of Barbados and Minister for National Security, the public service and Urban Development the same day by

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

Clifford Husbands Sir Clifford Straughn Husbands GCMG KStJ KA QC (5 August 1926 – 11 October 2017) was a Barbadian judge who served as the sixth Governor-General of Barbados. He held this office from 1996, when he was appointed after the death of Nita Barrow, ...

. In 2011, Stuart was appointed as a member of the UN Global Panel on Sustainability. Stuart won his first election as Prime Minister on 21 February 2013, defeating

challenger (for his constituency) Noel Lynch. On 24 January 2014 Stuart became a member of the

Privy Council of the United Kingdom The Privy Council (PC), officially His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of e ...

. Stuart had announced changes for Barbados including his intention to turn Barbados into a republic and replace the

Queen of Barbados The monarchy of Barbados was a system of government in which a hereditary monarch was the sovereign and head of state of Barbados from 1966 to 2021. Barbados shared the Sovereign with the other Commonwealth realms, with the country's monarchy be ...

with a ceremonial president as

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

. Ahead of the 2018 General Election Stuart stated if re-elected he would push for removal of Barbados from jurisdiction of the

Caribbean Court of Justice The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ; nl, Caribisch Hof van Justitie; french: Cour Caribéenne de Justice) is the judicial institution of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Established in 2005, it is based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. ...

(CCJ). The DLP lost all of its seats in the May 2018 election to the

Mia Mottley Mia Amor Mottley, (born 1 October 1965) 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 ...

. It was the worst defeat of a sitting government in Barbadian history. Stuart himself was roundly defeated in his own seat, taking only 26.7 percent of the vote. (In September 2020, Mottley's government also proposed removing the Queen as head of state.) On 1 August 2018, Stuart stepped down as DLP leader and President, and a leadership election was held to fill up the position where the Candidate for Christ Church South

Verla De Peiza Verla A. De Peiza (born 7 October 1971) is a Barbadian politician and lawyer. She was the leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) from 12 August 2018 to 21 January 2022, and was the first woman to hold this position. She also previously ...

won unopposed in the election.

succeeded Stuart on the following day.

Honours and awards

*: **

Member of the

Order of Roraima The Order of Roraima of Guyana is the second highest National Award of Guyana, and is limited to only thirty five living Guyanese recipients. Established in 1976, it is awarded to any citizen of Guyana who has given outstanding service to the na ...

(O.R.)

References

External links

The Democratic Labour Party

Profile of Freundel Stuartprofile of Freundel Stuart
at the High-level Panel of the UN Secretary-General on Global Sustainability , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Stuart, Freundel 1951 births Barbadian Queen's Counsel Barbadian republicans Democratic Labour Party (Barbados) politicians Leaders of the Democratic Labour Party (Barbados) Living people Members of the House of Assembly of Barbados Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Saint Philip, Barbados Prime Ministers of Barbados Deputy Prime Ministers of Barbados Interior ministers of Barbados University of the West Indies alumni Republicanism in Barbados