page_title: Barbados Labour Party
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Barbados Labour Party / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Headquarters of Barbados Labour Party, Bridgetown, Barbados, at the Grantley Adams House
context_page_description: The Barbados Labour Party is the main party of government of Barbados which was established in 1938. Led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, the BLP holds 29 of the 30 seats in the House of Assembly of Barbados after MP for St. Michael West, Joseph Artherly decided to become an Independent MP and became the Leader of the Opposition. It was elected to government on 25 May 2018 after 10 years in opposition, with Mottley becoming the country's first female Prime Minister.
  In common with Barbados' other major party, the Democratic Labour Party or "Dems", the BLP has been broadly described as centre-left social-democratic party, with local politics being largely personality-driven and responsive to contemporary issues and the state of the economy. However, the Party distinguishes itself by being rooted in Asquithian Liberal policies, including a focus on trade as a way of bolstering economic growth over the creation of social services.
  The BLP is a former observer member of the Socialist International.
context_section_description: Originally called the Barbados Progressive League until 1944, the party was founded on 31 March 1938 at the home of James Martineau. During the first meeting, Chrissie Brathwaite and Grantley Adams were elected as Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Adams had entered the House of Assembly in 1934 partly through his deconstruction of the labour-focused efforts of the Charles Duncan O’Neal’s Democratic League, but this new party turned to organizing the political movement brought on by the unrest of 1937 that he had earlier opposed. As such, their objectives included many of the League’s original goals, such as adult suffrage, free education, and better housing and health care.
  The BLP first participated in general elections in 1940. In 1994 Owen Arthur became the Prime Minister as leader of the Barbados Labour Party.
  In the 2003 elections the BLP won 23 out of the 30 seats. The number increased to 24 in 2006, when in an almost unprecedented development the leader of the opposition, after a bitter and tumultuous internal battle within his own party, resigned the post and joined the governing party.
  The Barbados Labour Party governed from 1994 to 2008, which was commonly called the "Owen Arthur Administration". Prime Minister Arthur was chosen from among leaders around the globe to deliver the William Wilberforce lecture on the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Atlantic Slave Trade Act.
  The party lost power in the 2008 general election, winning 10 seats against 20 for the Democratic Labour Party (DLP). After the election, Arthur stepped down as BLP leader and was replaced by former Deputy Prime Minister Mia Mottley in a leadership election against Attorney-General of Barbados, Dale Marshall (politician). Mottley also became Opposition Leader.
  In the summer of 2008 Hamilton Lashley, MP for St. Michael South East, resigned from the party to become an Independent candidate in the House of Assembly. He was thereafter given a job by the DLP, the party he had belonged before crossing the floor to the BLP, as a consultant on poverty. This move by the member reduced to nine the number of seats the Barbados Labour Party had in the House.
caption: Grantley Adams House, the party's current headquarters, Bridgetown
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