Premier of the Virgin Islands

The Premier of the Virgin Islands^[1] is the head of government for the British Virgin Islands. As a British Overseas Territory, the Premier is appointed by the Governor on behalf of the British monarch, currently King Charles III.^[2] Until 2007, the head of government was known as the Chief Minister of the Virgin Islands, but a constitutional change in 2007 renamed the position as Premier.^[3]

Premier of the Virgin Islands
Arms of His Majesty's British Virgin Islands Government
Incumbent Natalio Wheatley since 5 May 2022
Style	The Honourable
Appointer	Governor of the Virgin Islands
Term length	At the governor's pleasure (normally 4 years)
Formation	14 April 1967
First holder	Hamilton Lavity Stoutt as Chief Minister
Website	Office of the Premier

The current Premier is Natalio Wheatley. He is serving since 5 May 2022.^[4]

History of the office

Since the 1967 constitution was adopted, only seven different people (all men) have served as Premier or Chief Minister, and each of them except for Cyril Romney has served at least two full terms. Also, each of them has served as the Leader of the Opposition.

H. Lavity Stoutt won the most general elections of any leader (he won five), followed by Orlando Smith (three). Stoutt, Smith and Willard Wheatley are the only leaders to have served two consecutive full terms (Ralph T. O'Neal also served two consecutive terms, but the first of those was the remaining part of a term after Stoutt's death).

List

(Dates in italics indicate de facto continuation of office)

UP   VIDP   VIP   NDP
No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office[lower-alpha 1]			Political party	Elected	Notes
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
Chief Ministers (1967–2007)
1		H. Lavity Stoutt (1929–1995)	14 April 1967	2 June 1971	4 years, 49 days	United Party	1967	First tenure
2		Willard Wheatley (1915–1997)	2 June 1971	12 November 1979	8 years, 163 days	VI Democratic Party	1971 1975
(2)						United Party[lower-alpha 2]
(1)		H. Lavity Stoutt (1929–1995)	12 November 1979	11 November 1983	3 years, 364 days	Virgin Islands Party	1979	Second tenure
3		Cyril Romney (1931–2007)	11 November 1983	17 November 1986	3 years, 6 days	United Party	1983
(1)		H. Lavity Stoutt (1929–1995)	17 November 1986	14 May 1995	8 years, 178 days	Virgin Islands Party	1986 1990 1995	Third tenure. Died in office
4		Ralph T. O'Neal (1933–2019)	15 May 1995	17 June 2003	8 years, 33 days	Virgin Islands Party	1999
5		D. Orlando Smith (born 1944)	17 June 2003	23 August 2007	4 years, 67 days	National Democratic Party	2003
Premiers (2007–present)
1		Ralph T. O'Neal (1933–2019)	23 August 2007	9 November 2011	4 years, 78 days	Virgin Islands Party	2007
2		D. Orlando Smith (born 1944)	9 November 2011	25 February 2019	7 years, 108 days	National Democratic Party	2011 2015
3		Andrew Fahie (born 1970)	26 February 2019	5 May 2022	3 years, 69 days	Virgin Islands Party	2019
4		Natalio Wheatley (born 1980)	5 May 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 164 days	Virgin Islands Party	2023

All previous Chief Ministers or Premiers have served at least two terms except for Cyril Romney and Andrew Fahie.

№	Name	General Election victories	Total time in office (days)
1	Lavity Stoutt	5	6,117
2	Ralph O'Neal	2	4,494
3	Orlando Smith	3	4,194
4	Willard Wheatley	2	3,085
5	Andrew Fahie	1	1,164
6	Cyril Romney	1	1,055
7	Natalio Wheatley	1	895

See also

• List of current heads of government in the United Kingdom and dependencies
• Politics of the British Virgin Islands
• Governor of the Virgin Islands

Notes

1. Duration of terms are calculated as commencing on the date of the election; not the actual subsequent date of appointment by the Governor, which is usually a few days later.
2. Wheatley led a coalition of himself plus the VI Democratic Party in the 1971 election and then another coalition of himself plus the United Party in the 1975 election.

References

1. While the territory is commonly known as the 'British Virgin Islands', her official name is simply 'Virgin Islands'.
2. The Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007 Archived 22 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine (SI 2007/1678)
3. The Virgin Islands (Constitution) Order 1976 Archived 2009-05-03 at the Wayback Machine (SI 1976/2145), as amended by 1979/1603, 1982/151, 1991/2871 and 1994/1638
4. "Dr Wheatley sworn in as Premier! New cross-party gov't also installed". BVINews. 5 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.

Further reading