founded People's National Movement (PNM), was aware of Constantine's popular appeal and recruited him. By January 1956 Constantine, with the full co-operation and blessing of his employers, was party chairman and a member of its executive committee. Feeling that the PNM's policies were in harmony with his views on improving the lives of black people, and encouraged by his wife, Constantine stood for election in the parliamentary constituency of Tunapuna in 1956. He won a narrow victory, which his colleagues believed few in the party could have done, and resigned from Trinidad Leaseholds. The PNM formed a government, in which Constantine became the Minister of Communications, Works and Utilities. In his ministerial role, Constantine promoted development of Trinidad and Tobago's road, rail, water and electricity infrastructure. However, in late 1958 he was accused of corruption, over a ship leasing deal. His angry response to the charge, in the Legislative Council, created a perception of arrogance among his colleagues, and suggested that he had not sufficiently adapted to parliamentary politics. According to Mason, the speech was a miscalculation which made the public, perhaps already sceptical of his commitment to Trinidad and Tobago after so many years away, question his fitness for a ministerial role, a view increasingly held by commentators. In the later 1950s, Constantine supported the campaign, led by James, to appoint West Indies cricket's first black captain; the success of black people like Constantine in attaining government positions while not permitted to captain the cricket team was a key factor in an ultimately successful campaign. While in government, Constantine assisted in the development of the West Indies Federation, as a step towards the independence of the islands, and his fame and familiarity with Britain played some part in the negotiations which led to Trinidad and Tobago's independence in 1962. After he decided not to stand for re-election in 1961, Williams appointed him as Trinidad and Tobago's first High Commissioner in London. Peter Mason writes that Constantine's political career in Trinidad and Tobago was a success: he was efficient, active, respected and popular. Mason concedes that he was not a natural politician, often sensitive to criticism and that his experience abroad was a cause for mistrust in Trinidad and Tobago, rather than seen as an advantage. Gerald Howat believes that Constantine's political career, while not without successes, was undermined by several factors: his age, his over-frequent references to his English