page_title: Cyril Romney
section_title: Politics
hierarchical_section_title: Cyril Romney / Politics
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the BVI office of Conyers Dill &amp; Pearman
context_page_description: Cyril Brandtford Romney served as Chief Minister of the British Virgin Islands from 1983 to 1986. He also served as a member of the Legislative Council of the British Virgin Islands from 1979 to 1995. He was the first BVIslander to hold the post of Financial Secretary, and was also a business leader in the Territory and the region.
  After an early career as a teacher, he studied economics at Inter-American University of Puerto Rico and then pursued a master's program in economics and political science at Syracuse University in New York.
context_section_description: Cyril Romney's first foray into politics was in 1975, when he stood as an independent candidate in the First District against Lavity Stoutt. He lost, but was subsequently elected in 1979 as the representative for the Fifth District and became a member of the opposition.  He served a second political term from 1983 to 1986 and was Chief Minister of a coalition government with the United Party led by Willard Wheatley.  During Romney's term as Chief Minister the International Business Companies Act, which was responsible for so much of the Territory's economic success, came into force.
  In 1986 Romney's ruling coalition lost power after calling an early election, but he was re-elected and continued to serve on the opposition benches for two more consecutive terms.  In both 1995 and 1999, he tried unsuccessfully to recapture the Fifth District seat standing on a pro-independence platform.
  Romney was a permanent justice of the peace, a founding member of the Rotary Club of Tortola and a member of the BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association.
caption: Colombian Emeralds in Road Town, one of Romney's business ventures
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "KONICA MINOLTA", "Image Model": "DiMAGE X50", "Image Software": "DiMAGE X50 Ver1.01", "Image DateTime": "2006:12:30 11:09:09", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "250", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 4, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, 22, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/90", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:12:30 11:09:09", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:12:30 11:09:09", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "43/10", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "297/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "61/10", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1280, 960, 640, 480]", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2560", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1920", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "37", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "2"}