After three years’ service in The Bahamas, British High Commissioner Tom Hartley is departing. As he entered his final days in the country, he spoke to STEPHEN HUNT about his time in office, and his hopes for The Bahamas in future. 

Tom Hartley has been a very visible figure in The Bahamas over the past three years – but as he prepared for his departure this week from his role as British High Commissioner, there was one telling phrase that showed how much our nation has affected him. 

“When I came,” he said, “I was an ambassador to The Bahamas. As I leave, I will be an ambassador for The Bahamas.”

For those who have met Mr Hartley at the various events he has organised or attended, it certainly speaks to the enthusiasm he has brought to building connections. 

Being very visible is something the High Commission has not been in previous years – it closed down in 1999 before being reopened in 2019 by Mr Hartley’s predecessor, Sarah Dickson. 

One of her first challenges was coordinating with British forces who came to the assistance of those affected by Hurricane Dorian – a trial by fire if ever there was one. British forces were among the first to help victims of that storm. 

Mr Hartley arrived at a very different moment – but also hugely significant. His arrival coincided with the death of Queen Elizabeth II, putting him in the position of being the connection between The Bahamas and the UK at a point of historic change. 

He was in a meeting with another predecessor – Peter Young, who now writes weekly as a columnist with The Tribune – when the word came through about the queen’s passing, and quickly had to rush to meet Prime Minister Philip Davis to receive his credentials.

“When I got here, I always saw it as my job to build or rebuild bridges,” he said. “People were in many ways just so grateful that the High Commission was back that we got a lot of goodwill. Building bridges was perhaps easier than if we’d been here all that time… the fact it was a clean break and Sarah and I were relatively younger than our predecessors has almost allowed us to reinvent what the High Commission is all about.”

He said: “Certainly in my first six months, there were a lot of people saying we really hope you don’t go again. And Sir Franklyn Wilson, he said Bahamians could never believe there was a moment when there was going to be a Chinese embassy in The Bahamas but not a British High Commission.”

Three years on from that initial flurry of meetings, ceremonial procedures and more, Mr Hartley leaves with a great deal of optimism for what The Bahamas could be. 

He highlights various successes – such as Kanoo expanding to London, two different rums now being available in the UK, he particularly feels that his tenure “moved the needle” on education and scholarships - and what he calls “near misses”, such as a display of Bahamian goods in Harrods which drew attention if not leading to a regular repeat. 

There are other successess too - such as working with the sailing community, repatriating 10,000 pages from the UK National Archives to The Bahamas, and building artistic connections - even catching the eye as he joined in Junkanoo dancing. 

But building international links has been one of the key parts of his tenure. 

He said: “It’s part of the secret sauce of The Bahamas, in that The Bahamas isn’t just a major bilateral partner of Britain, The Bahamas also hosts this international community, the global comparatives are Monaco, Dubai and Singapore… I remember thinking it would be great if I could meet someone from Harrods – and I met them here in The Bahamas.”

That international community, he says, is one of the great advantages here in the country – he talks of how if you go to New York for a meeting with a high-powered executive, you might get five minutes, but in The Bahamas you get four hours on a golf course. 

That international connection is one of the opportunities that he sees as an open door for The Bahamas. Two areas, particularly, stand out to him. 

He points out how the US luxury market is “no longer New York, it’s now Miami, it’s much younger, it’s much funkier”. 

He notes how the old New York luxury market went to the Hamptons – the Miami market comes to The Bahamas. 

One of the areas that he sees as a ripe chance to expand is the tourism market from the Middle East. He said: “The other market that someone in the Caribbean is going to win is the Middle Eastern and West African market – and I think now there is just such incredible money there that whoever gets that flight, whoever gets the Qatar or the Emirates flight or the Ethiopian flight to their country will just find an incredible influx of tourists but also investors and high net-worth community.

“They want to be near the US but not in the US, they need an offshore jurisdiction, they want luxury, they want high quality tourism… they want a decent financial industry. So in many ways, The Bahamas could skip the European industry and just focus on those others and make a lot of money… there is a market that The Bahamas is missing out on, for sure.”

He adds: “The US needs an offshore financial district – and that will either be Cayman or Bermuda or The Bahamas. The Bahamas therefore has an amazing opportunity… that feels like an amazing opportunity for The Bahamas and it really needs to consider how it’s going to prioritise that above other things.”

With that, he sounds a note of caution. “It’s clear that the politics of The Bahamas is making those sorts of conversations more difficult.”

By that, he notes the one-term trend in politics, with governments not winning a second term, leading to short-term outcomes – though he is careful to note that is not with regard to one political party or another. 

Part of that is also with regard to the politics surrounding immigration. He stresses that it is a “sovereign decision” for the country to consider how it governs its borders, but notes that limiting work permits “that makes that conversation around building a global financial services centre very difficult, where it is impossible for a country of just 400,000 people to fully staff with the highest quality global employees, you have to have a large immigration of employees and lawyers, the legal system as well is a barrier to big changes like this”.

He added: “Of course we would completely support that as a decision but recognising that comes at odds with building a world class global financial centre.”

Mr Hartley points towards the Singapore model – often discussed in The Bahamas as a path to follow – with its more open policy on immigration, high salaries for political leaders but zero tolerance towards corruption and more, and says: “The Bahamas has every opportunity to become the Western hemisphere’s Singapore and more so – Singapore is one island, The Bahamas is 700 – but it has active policies that are making choices like that difficult.”

His recommendation? “I think The Bahamas needs to have that national conversation.”

Mr Hartley has now departed his role, and flew to London yesterday. He says though that he has sand in his shoes – and perhaps sees a future return. 

As he says, he goes to speak on behalf of The Bahamas elsewhere – and leaves many friends, and more than a few thoughts for the future, as he departs.