The Right Honourable Owen Seymour Arthur PC, MP |
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Arthur at the 2005 Summit of the Americas.
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Leader of the Opposition (Barbados) | |
In office 18 October 2010 – 26 February 2013 |
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Prime Minister | Freundel Stuart |
Preceded by | Mia Mottley |
Succeeded by | Mia Mottley |
Constituency | Saint Peter |
5th Prime Minister of Barbados | |
In office 6 September 1994 – 16 January 2008 |
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Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Governor General |
Nita Barrow Denys Williams (Acting) Clifford Husbands |
Deputy | Mia Mottley |
Preceded by | Erskine Sandiford |
Succeeded by | David Thompson |
Personal details | |
Born |
Barbados |
17 October 1949
Political party | BLP |
Spouse(s) | Julie Arthur |
Children | Leah |
Mother | Iretha “Doll” Arthur |
Father | Frank Leroy Arthur |
Residence | Ilaro Court 1994–2008 |
Profession | Economist |
Owen Seymour Arthur, PC, MP (born October 17, 1949) is a Barbadian politician who was Prime Minister of Barbados from 1994 to 2008. To date, he is the longest serving Barbadian Prime Minister. He was Leader of the Opposition in Barbados from 2010 to 2013.
He led the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to victory in the 1994 general election and won general elections again in 1999 and 2003. In the 2008 general election, his party was defeated by the Democratic Labour Party and its leader David Thompson. Arthur stepped down as party leader, but remained the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Saint Peter. He subsequently returned to lead the BLP in 2010, but he was replaced as party leader after the BLP lost the 2013 general election.
Arthur was educated firstly, at The Coleridge and Parry Boy's School and then later Harrison College (Barbados) and then the University of the West Indies - Cave Hill, Barbados and Mona, Jamaica where he earned a BA degree in Economics and History (1971) and an MSc degree in Economics (1974). After graduating he held positions with Jamaica's National Planning Agency and the Jamaica Bauxite Institute before returning to Barbados and joining the Ministry of Finance and Planning in 1981.