A CALL has been made for a life-sized statue to be erected of Barbados’ third Prime Minister Sir Harold Bernard “Bree” St. John.
It comes from long-time friend Sir Richard “Johnny” Cheltenham Q.C who delivered the Sir Harold St. John Memorial lecture at the Christ Church Parish Church Centre on Wednesday night, where he stated that there can be no place more appropriate for its location than Oistins in Christ Church.
Speaking at the lecture, one of the activities to mark the 41st anniversary of the Oistins Fish Festival, Sir Richard gave a nearly two-hour long personal reflection on the life and legacy of Sir Harold, which included some spectacular political highs and lows, his unquestionable patriotism and success as a legal luminary.
Sir Richard lamented that in spite of all of his successes, St. John is in danger of being remembered only as a hard-working, reliable and effective deputy to Prime Minister Tom Adams. “His larger contribution as the most creative thinker in the public life of the country over the last 75 years is likely to be forgotten and to go unacknowledged.”
According to Sir Richard, “He is deserving of a lasting and prominent place in the history of our public life. And I recommend... that a suitable memorial be erected in his honour. And I can think of no place more appropriate for its location than Oistins Town. No man has done more to re-energise the township and enlarge its boundaries,” Sir Richard said.
He described Sir Harold as “an unrepentant federalist” adding that it was not surprising therefore that he played such a prominent role in the campaign of the Under 40s. He also championed closer bi-lateral and regional collaborations. “The Cement plant in Barbados was one of his ideas, which Barbados was able to accomplish with the assistance of Dr. Eric Williams of Trinidad. So too was the cargo airline, CARICARGO, headquartered in Barbados, but owned by Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados.
A senator since 1964, by 1969 he became the natural successor to lead the Labour Party following the retirement of Sir Grantley Adams; St. John led the BLP into the 1971 Elections.
“By then Christ Church was divided into four constituencies and he ran in Christ Church East Central, but was defeated by a popular middle-range civil servant – Anderson “Peanuts” Morrison,” he recalled.
Sir Richard opined that one of Sir Harold’s greatest political weaknesses was his lack of social skills as it related to house to house canvassing and meeting constituents. “That was a weakness which his opponents exploited. It helps to explain his defeats at the polls at times when he appeared to be at the zenith of his career as a politician,” Sir Richard said.
St. John’s rise to the Office of the Prime Minister was also highlighted by the lecturer. Named as Deputy Prime Minister in 1976, he served in that position for nine years and never shied away from his workload. He noted that it was approximately two to three months before Adams died that the harmonious relationship between Tom and St. John suffered a fracture. According to Sir Richard, it was later understood that it was centred on differing views on the state of tourism. St. John later told Sir Harold that he had sent Prime Minister Adams a letter of resignation.
Fate would have it that Prime Minister Adams died shortly thereafter and St. John was called upon to form the Government.
“The dramatic transformation from resigning Minister to Prime Minister resulting from the death of the very Prime Minister to whom he had directed the resignation letter will forever be ranked as one of the greatest ironies of Barbadian politics,” mused Sir Richard.
Sir Richard who revealed a conversation with Sir Harold that same day that he said: “Johnny, whatever in life for a man, he will get.” He also said the Party had to go to the polls.
However by the next day that decision was changed, and he stated that the ruling party would have to settle down and run the country for the next year.“I do not know what caused the change but it was a major political miscalculation,” he stated, adding that the DLP was ill-prepared for an election. He lost his seat to Trade Unionist Robert “Bobby” Morris.
“It must be said however, that the country in the 14 months that St. John was Prime Minister was well-managed,” he said. “Looking back, what I thought St. John wanted to achieve by not going to the polls immediately following Tom’s death was to demonstrate beyond doubt that he was fully capable of running the country and managing the economy. And that he did,” Sir Richard opined.
In 1991, St. John again won a seat in the House of Assembly which he held until his retirement from public life in 2003. He died on February 29 2004. (JH)