Baldwin Spencer
Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 March 2004
Monarch Elizabeth II
Governor General James Carlisle
Louise Lake-Tack
Preceded by Lester Bird
Born 8 October 1948 (age 61)
Political party UPP
Spouse(s) Jacklyn Spencer
Winston Baldwin Spencer (born October 8, 1948) is the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. He has been Prime Minister since March 24, 2004, when his party, the United Progressive Party (UPP), which he had led as the opposition party for several years, won a parliamentary election. He has also been Minister of Foreign Affairs since January 6, 2005.
Early life and education
Baldwin Spencer was born and raised in the Grays-Green community. He is a graduate of the Greenbay Primary School and the Princess Margaret Secondary School. He pursued higher education in the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada. He received a diploma in Social Leadership from the Coady International Institute in Canada and Diplomas in Labour and Economic Studies and Labour and Industrial Relations Systems from Ruskin College and Norway’s Oslo University, respectively.
Leader of the Opposition
Baldwin Spencer is rooted in labour. For a quarter century, he was a prominent labour leader with the Antigua and Barbuda Workers Union. Spencer was first elected to Parliament in 1989 as the MP for the St. John’s Rural West constituency.
In 1992, Baldwin Spencer played an integral role in the formation of the United Progressive Party. He previously served as a leader with the United National Democratic Party and spearheaded collaborative meetings with the Antigua Caribbean Liberation Movement that resulted in the formation of the United Progressive Party. Upon formation of the party, Spencer rose to become the political leader of the party and the Opposition Leader in the Parliament.
As Opposition Leader Baldwin Spencer organised public demonstrations and went on a hunger strike to advocate for electoral reform after the widely criticised 1999 elections. His advocacy led to the formation of an independent Electoral Commission to oversee elections in Antigua and Barbuda. He also led the fight to ensure that opposition had access to state owned media, such as the television station, Antigua Broadcasting Service (ABS). To that end, he filed a writ and took the Bird Government to court arguing that, in a democratic society, citizens have a right to hear an opposing political perspectives on government airwaves.
Prime Minister
In 2004, Baldwin Spencer led the United Progressive Party to a landslide victory in the general election. He defeated Lester Bird’s ALP, which had ruled Antigua and Barbuda for the previous 28 years. In Government he moved to enact a trio of good government reforms: a nationwide school meals programme, raising the minimum wage and paying all civil servants.
