He will now be addressed as the Right Honourable Perry Gladstone Christie.
Mr. Christie’s appointment follows that of former prime ministers, the late Sir Lynden Pindling and the Rt. Hon Hubert Ingraham.
The Privy Council is one of the oldest parts of British government, adapted to reflect the fact that the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. While appointment to the Privy Council is for life, only U.K. Ministers in the democratically elected government of the day participate in its work.
It is common practice for respected Commonwealth prime ministers to be appointed as advisors to Her Majesty.
Mr. Christie was sworn in as the third prime minister of The Bahamas on May 3, 2002, following his Progressive Liberal Party’s triumph over the Free National Movement in a General Election held a day earlier.
The PLP won 29 of the forty (40) seats in the House of Assembly, ending ten years of Government under the FNM, led by Mr. Ingraham. The FNM won seven (7) seats and Independents, four (4) seats.
Prime Minister Christie has spent some 30 years in front line politics and at the time when he assumed the office of prime minister he had been the Leader of the Opposition for a little under five years, having assumed the mantle of leadership of the Progressive Liberal Party from Sir Lynden.
Prime Minister Christie formally entered politics when he was appointed to the Senate in 1975 as a Progressive Liberal Senator, and at the same time served in his first major political office as Chairman of the Gaming Board.
Mr. Christie was first elected to the House of Assembly for the Centreville Constituency in 1977. He was re-elected in 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, and in 2002, for the Farm Road Constituency.
He served in the PLP Government as Minister of Health and National Insurance from 1977 to 1982, Minister of Tourism from 1982 to 1984, and Minister of Agriculture, Trade and Industry from 1990 to 1992. He was Co-Deputy Leader of the PLP from 1992 to 1997, and Leader since 1997.
Born in Nassau, Bahamas on August 21, 1944, Mr. Christie is the eldest child of the late Gladstone and Naomi (nee Allen) Christie. His father was a taxi driver and his mother a nurse.
Mr. Christie was educated at Eastern Senior School, Nassau; University Tutorial College London, and obtained his LLB degree from Birmingham University, United Kingdom.
He was called successively to the Bar of the Inner Temple, London, and was admitted to The Bahamas Bar in 1970. A little known side of Mr. Christie was that while a student, he carved out a name for himself, both locally and throughout the Caribbean as a championship long jumper and he holds the distinction of being one of the first Bahamians to compete in this sport in the international arena. What is also not known about Mr. Christie is that while at Birmingham University he was also a championship debater and won several prizes for his debating skills.
He is married to the former Bernadette Hanna, an attorney and chartered accountant and a trust executive, and is the father of three children. Mr. Christie resides at Cable Beach, Nassau, New Providence.
Mr. Christie is a charismatic speaker who has characterized his party and government as “a PLP that will not only build new hospitals, schools, bridges and roads, but a PLP that will build up patriotism, pride optimism and hope”. These values, he said, must be brought to full flowering; otherwise, we labour in vain.”
Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
