In 1965, together with premiers Errol Barrow of Barbados and Forbes Burnham of Guyana, he brought the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) into being. That Association later led to the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom), comprising 12 of the English-speaking Caribbean countries, two more than were members of the West Indies Federation. On 1 November 1981, he became the first Prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda. Since then, in a rare case in modern-day Caribbean politics, he led his party to an election victory in 1984 in which the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) won all the Antiguan seats in the Legislature.