Victor Franklin Banks (born 8 November 1947)Victor Banks
Caribbean Elections is an

Anguilla Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The terr ...

n politician. A member of the Anguilla United Front (AUF), he served as Premier from 14 May 2019 until his defeat in the 2020 general election.

Biography

The oldest of six siblings, Banks grew up in The Valley.Educational Prowess and Professional Experience Counts By: Sheridan Smith
The Anguillan, 24 September 2014 His father died when he was a teenager. His first job was as a teacher at Valley Secondary School, where he worked from 1964 until 1968. He then attended the

University of the Virgin Islands The University of the Virgin Islands (or UVI) is a public historically black land-grant university in the United States Virgin Islands. History UVI was founded as the College of the Virgin Islands on March 16, 1962. In 1986, it officially be ...

, where he obtained a BA in social sciences in 1972. He then attended the New School for Social Research in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, where he obtained a master's degree in political science. He started a PhD at the same institution, but left in 1979 at the

all but dissertation "All but dissertation" (ABD) is a term identifying a stage in the process of obtaining a research doctorate, most commonly used in the United States. In typical usage of the term, the ABD graduate student has completed the required preparatory ...

stage. A member of the Anguilla National Alliance, he was elected to the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...

in the Valley North constituency in the 1981 elections. Then 33, he became the island's youngest government minister when he was appointed Minister of Social Services. He moved to the

Anguilla Democratic Party The Anguilla Democratic Party was a political party in Anguilla. At the 21 February 2005 elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public a ...

(ADP) prior to the 1984 elections, in which he lost his seat and place in the cabinet. In a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in 1985 he was elected in the Valley South Constituency for the ADP. He retained the Valley South seat until the 2010 elections. In 1994 he was appointed Minister of Finance and Economic Development, serving until 1999. In 2000 he became Minister of Finance, Economic Development, Investment and Commerce, with Tourism added to the portfolio in 2005. He left the cabinet after losing his seat in 2010. Banks became Chief Minister (renamed to Premier in 2019) after the AUF won six of the seven elected seats in the House of Assembly in the

2015 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in the year 2015. Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burun ...

, in which he also regained the Valley South seat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Victor 1947 births Members of the House of Assembly of Anguilla Chief Ministers of Anguilla Premiers of Anguilla Living people Government ministers of Anguilla People from The Valley, Anguilla