Cato, (Robert) Milton (1915-1997)

St Vincent and the Grenadines centrist politician, chief minister 1967-69, and prime minister 1969-72 and 1974-84. He helped to establish the St Vincent Labour Party (SVLP) in 1954, and from 1967 served as chief minister with a SVLP majority. Having negotiated Associate Statehood for St Vincent in 1969, he was redesignated prime minister. After 1974 he headed a coalition government that led the country to independence within the British Commonwealth in 1979. Beset by economic depression and allegations of corruption, the SVLP was defeated in 1984 by the New Democratic Party (NDP), led by James Mitchell. A year later Cato announced his retirement from politics.

His governments oversaw improvements in the economic infrastructure, especially electricity and roads, and promoted closer regional links, including the establishment of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in 1981. However, it also had to suppress an uprising on Union Island in November 1979 and faced a general strike in June 1981, which forced the withdrawal of controversial industrial relations legislation.

Born into relative poverty, Cato, after securing a scholarship to a grammar school, served in the Canadian Volunteer Army during World War II and later trained as a barrister in England. On his return to St Vincent in 1949, he set up a legal practice and entered local politics. In 1958, when St Vincent became part of the Federation of the West Indies, he went to Trinidad as one of the island's representatives. With the Federation's collapse in 1961, he was elected to the St Vincent parliament. Between 1972 and 1974, Cato lost the premiership to Mitchell.