Magro not to contest MLP general secretary post

The Labour Party's long serving general secretary, Jimmy Magro, is today expected to formally announce he will not be seeking re-election for the post and will instead seek election to the European parliament.

Mr Magro, general secretary for 12 years, will be giving a press conference this morning.

Labour election candidate Alfred Mifsud has, meanwhile, resigned from the party.

Mr Mifsud wrote to the party vigilance board and to Mr Magro after the board two weeks ago warned him that unless he stopped writing in the press "in a way that is harming the party", action would be taken against him.

Contacted yesterday, Mr Mifsud said he was not willing to live with threats.

"The letter by the party vigilance board is nothing but a threat. I will not take threats from anyone.

"By its letter and the way it treated my case, the board broke all the rules in the book," he said.

Mr Mifsud was seen by many as one of the likely contenders for the MLP leadership post.

The letter by the party vigilance board was released to the media by chairman Tommy Roberts a fortnight later it was sent to Mr Mifsud.

Mr Roberts pointed out that the letter was sent to Mr Mifsud "on the board's own initiative".

Mr Mifsud, a former chairman of the party's media and an unsuccessful candidate in last April's general election, had been one of the more open opinion writers and was sometimes critical of the way the MLP was being run.

He was recently critical of the way the contest for the MLP leadership took place. He had pointed out that "it would be difficult for the very same people who made the EU issue a question of principle to now preach about accepting the new reality".

He had accused his party of coming round to accept VAT and the retention of the Gozo Ministry too late in the day.

In an article in l-orizzont on August 7, Mr Mifsud questioned the party structures governing the election of the leader. He accused the party media of giving Alfred Sant an edge over the other candidates when he decided to run again for party leader.

Mr Mifsud continued: "I can remain silent and applaud to ingratiate myself... But we will lose the next election because the leadership race would have been a contentious one."

Mr Magro, on the other hand, will be setting his eyes on pastures new, still within the party. He and other party officials had offered their resignation after the electoral defeat last April.

Mr Magro had said shortly after that the offer to resign "was meant to send a signal to the party that none of the officials are shirking their responsibility".