Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley last night confirmed that former Democratic Labour Party MP for St Philip North, Michael Lashley, has joined the Barbados Labour Party – a dramatic development announced as the party gathered in St Joseph to install engineer Ryan Brathwaite unopposed as its candidate for the next General Election.
Ending speculation about the current political affiliation of Lashley, who was in the audience, Mottley addressed him directly with an invitation to put on a red shirt handed to him. He, however, kept it in his lap.
“I would like to formally welcome Michael Lashley as a member of the Barbados Labour Party,” the Prime Minister said.
Addressing a large crowd at Grantley Adams Memorial School, Mottley said she deliberately chose the “ancestral home of the Barbados Labour Party” to begin the party’s preparations for the next General Election.
Her revelation about Lashley comes four weeks after he made a surprise appearance at the BLP annual conference on October 25. Two days, later he resigned with immediate effect from the Opposition DLP citing attacks on his family. At that time he said he was not a member of any party.
Ex three-time MP
Lashley, a former three-time Member of Parliament, served as a minister during the DLP 2008 to 2018 term in office and was ousted in the 2018 wipe-out by the BLP. He was again beaten in the 2022.
On the St Joseph nomination, Mottley said: “I always feel good when I can walk with a pep in my step and a smile on my face. By the time we leave here, we are going to start a movement straight across this country… a movement grounded in service, commitment and people.”
Mottley praised the St Joseph branch for being the first constituency to lock in its candidate.
She described Brathwaite as “a man of the people” with the character and professional grounding required to lead a constituency grappling with infrastructure challenges, land slippage and climaterelated pressures.
“He is not one of those who climbs the ladder and kicks it away. He climbs the ladder and finds more ladders for others. Ryan Brathwaite is ready,” she noted.
Turning to outgoing MP Dale Marshall, Mottley delivered a deeply personal tribute.
“If it were possible to delay the election to keep you, I would – but I suspect your people in St Joseph want me to hurry up and do the other thing.”
Although most of the night’s programme focused on tributes from senior party figures, Brathwaite in brief remarks thanked residents and reflected on the moment.
“This is the parish that gave me my start, the place that shaped me. I am humbled by your confidence and I promise to serve every district, every family, every young person and every elder with respect and dedication.
“I have walked these hills all my life and I intend to walk them with you – not ahead of you,” he told supporters.
Brathwaite turning to the outgoing MP beside him said: “Well done, my brother… well done for all you have done and continue to do for this great constituency.”
Marshall, who has represented the constituency for 22 years, revealed that on October 17 he wrote “perhaps the hardest letter I have ever written”, informing BLP president Senator The Most Honourable Reginald Farley that he would not contest the next General Election.
“It was a letter whose time had come,” he said. “When I came to St Joseph, I found constituents. I leave St Joseph with friends,” he added.
Marshall shared memories of meeting Brathwaite as a shy teenaged Combermerian during a 2002 canvass, a first encounter that sparked quiet mentorship over the years.
Handing over the baton, he pledged: “I will be far enough behind him, so the spotlight is always his but close enough to reach out a hand to support him.”
Party CEO, Senator Pat Parris, delivered one of the evening’s most forceful endorsements, cataloguing the BLP’s record in the constituency, from ending the “water wars” with the Castle Grant reservoir, to reopening the Horse Hill outpatient clinic, to completing the Hillcrest Community Centre and improving the road network.
“This is not a constituency neglected by the Labour Party. Tell them the facts,” she said.
Parris endorsed Brathwaite as a grounded, peoplefocused young leader.
“Ryan is a people’s person… he is ready to serve,” she said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport & Works Santia Bradshaw, who worked closely with Marshall on Scotland District engineering projects, assured residents that Brathwaite was already deeply familiar with the constituency’s road failures, slippages and design challenges. ( CLM)
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