Britain fought hard to keep slavery reparations off Commonwealth agenda

:Britain pushed hard to keep slavery reparations off the table at this week's Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda — and even floated pulling its prime minister from the meeting if the subject made the agenda, according to a veteran Caribbean political figure.

Ralph Gonsalves, the former prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and a senior figure in the reparatory justice movement Repair Campaign, told the Guardian that British officials were "vehement" about blocking the item. He said Canadian officials backed that stance, and that the same camp spread a false claim that India opposed the discussion. India, he said, had been supportive of the UN general assembly resolution on the issue.

Reparations still isn't on the official Chogm agenda as the 56-nation bloc gathers. Trade, climate resilience and finance, sustainable debt, democracy and opportunities for young people are the stated priorities. Prof Sir Hilary Beckles, who chairs the Caricom Reparations Commission, has branded the gathering "the Chogm of reparations" and called reparatory justice the Caribbean's number one item.

Friday brought a historic turn. The British prime minister went further than any predecessor by agreeing to structured dialogue and to consider an apology, announced in an op-ed for the Guardian. Gonsalves welcomed the move but wasn't handing out flowers: Britain, he said, is arriving at the table of structured dialogue "kicking and screaming."

Caribbean leaders split on what happens next. Guyana's president, Irfaan Ali, wants a Commonwealth subcommittee to hammer out the details over six to 12 months, and argued the talks should target development gaps in health, education, social services and infrastructure rather than putting a price on slavery's indignity. Barbados's prime minister, Mia Mottley, thanked the British PM for breaking new ground while saying plainly that the two sides still differ, naming an apology, health and education investment, systemic poverty and fairer debt terms as possible common ground. The Bahamas' prime minister, Philip Davis, said the conversation is about the enduring consequences of slavery, not just historical remembrance.

King Charles is signalling he won't match the apology, and protests are expected as he and the British prime minister travel through St John's. Sunday marks 45 years since Antigua and Barbuda's independence from British colonial rule, and campaigners are planning billboards, placards, T-shirts and a candlelight vigil for the Africans trafficked to the islands. Kemi Badenoch told broadcasters an apology would be a "navel-gazing distraction," calling slavery an evil in which people from every continent took part — a line Gonsalves said he'd like to unpack with his "dear sister." The British government had no immediate comment.