London School of Economics (LSE) alumna Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, delivered the “Not Until Then” lecture on Wednesday, December 6, to a packed venue, which included cabinet ministers Hon Dr Jerome Walcott and Kerrie Symonds as well as Barbados High Commissioner to the UK, His Excellency Milton Inniss and Diaspora Attache, Betty Lewis.
PM Mottley is known worldwide for her influential leadership in fighting climate change and financing the global transition to a sustainable economy. While in the UK, she met with Lord David Cameron, the UK’s foreign secretary.
Before the PM spoke at the LSE International Inequalities Institute, Barbados Poet Laureate Esther Phillips read her poem ‘My Ancestors Gifted Me Their Silence’.
In what many observers said was an extraordinary lecture, the PM explored her leadership philosophy and her perspective on the complexities of solving global challenges. Paraphrasing King Charles when he said, this is a conversation whose time has come. The former imperialist powers need to join this conversation, as difficult as it is.
She touched on essential topics such as slavery, inequality, health, the climate crisis, and debt financing. The PM spoke with the authority of a world leader about the need for a conversation about slavery and colonialism and its intergenerational impact and that the wrongs of ‘the atrocities’ need to be righted.
“I want to thank the Church of England for agreeing to pay £100m. The only difficulty is that there was no conversation, and the difficulty remains that this may not in any way come to closing the gap,” she said.
Her lecture was compelling, as was the Poetry by Esther Phillips, which was presented at intervals throughout the evening.
During question time, when an audience member dared to question her about her principles in accepting funds from the IMF, the Barbados PM reeled off a list of her government’s achievements, which were achieved with IMF funding, citing purchasing electric buses and fixing the sanitation system.
“Principles only mean something when it’s inconvenient to stand by them,” said Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
The Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity, LSE International Inequalities Institute, and Oxfam GB co-hosted the event. Included on the panel were Professor Eric Neumayer, LSE President and Vice-Chancellor and moderator Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Chief Executive Officer of Oxfam Great Britain. Also in the audience were Belle Riberio, local MP, Lord Simon Wolsely, I. Stephanie Boyce and Alan Smith.
Mia Amor Mottley became Barbados’ eighth and first female Prime Minister on May 25, 2018. Ms Mottley was elected to the Parliament of Barbados in September 1994 as part of the new Barbados Labour Party Government. Before that, she served as one of two Opposition Senators between 1991 and 1994.
