Archbishop Gonzi's secret deal offer

Malta's combative former archbishop, Mgr Michael Gonzi, attempted to strike a deal with Britain behind Dom Mintoff's back in 1972 after flying to London to act as a mediator between the two countries, recently declassified UK government documents have revealed.

Mgr Gonzi told British Prime Minister Edward Heath he could personally persuade the Maltese people to accept £15 million per year - £3 million per annum less than what Mr Mintoff was demanding - for the continued use by British and Nato forces of Malta's defence facilities.

Mgr Gonzi met Mr Heath at the Prime Minister's country residence, Chequers, on January 10, 1972, in an attempt to resolve the bitter dispute between Mr Mintoff and the UK government over the annual payments.

The Maltese Prime Minister was threatening to expel the forces by January 15 unless his demands of £18 million per year were met while the British government was refusing to budge from its offer of £9.5 million - which included the contribution from other Nato countries.

Eighty-six-year-old Mgr Gonzi, whose relations with Mr Mintoff by that time had improved significantly - officially at least - had the blessing of the Maltese Prime Minister to meet Mr Heath. However, the Archbishop was instructed to make it clear he had no mandate to negotiate and certainly not to decrease the £18 million demand.

British Foreign Minister Alex Douglas Home, who was also present at the meeting, wrote: "The Archbishop spoke with great sincerity of his attachment to the British connection, rueing the day when Malta had been granted independence. He made no serious attempt to excuse Mintoff's behaviour and at one point described him as unbalanced. Nevertheless, he urged that Mintoff's full demands be met".

But when Mr Heath said he saw no prospect of paying £18 million, the Archbishop came up with an offer of his own: £15 million per year; which he would personally be prepared to "sell" to the Maltese people with a view to getting them to "force" Mr Mintoff to reach agreement with the British.

According to a record of the meeting: "He (Mgr Gonzi) did not believe that the people of Malta would stand for a rejection of an offer which was commended to them by him and which he could say had been offered to him on the basis that people were prepared to have confidence in him".

However, the British Prime Minister rebuffed the Archbishop's suggestion - though this was never mentioned at that time by Mgr Gonzi or the media.

Mgr Gonzi is recorded as telling Mr Heath that the Maltese Prime Minister was in need of cash and "ruining the country". The Archbishop added that he feared Malta would fall into Libyan, and then Soviet, hands if Mr Mintoff's demands were not met.

Although the UK government held Mgr Gonzi in high esteem, it was suspicious of the Archbishop's confidant and personal physician, Paul Farrugia, who attended all the meetings. The British Foreign Secretary wrote: "...it became clear that the Archbishop has been keeping in regular touch with him (Mintoff), probably through Farrugia. The latter, while clearly attached to the Archbishop, did not inspire confidence and gave every impression of having had a thorough briefing from Mintoff beforehand".

A request by Mgr Gonzi for a second meeting with the British Prime Minister - which Mr Mintoff expressly opposed - also presented a diplomatic dilemma for the British in more ways than one: "The problem is, of course, to find a way of saying no which will not hurt the Archbishop's feelings unduly," Mr Douglas Home wrote.

Matters were further complicated by the fact that again Mgr Gonzi was acting against the Maltese Prime Minister's wishes: "The Archbishop is once again trying to get in on the act... There is... an obvious problem in becoming involved with the Archbishop through clandestine channels of this kind with Farrugia very possibly in Mintoff's confidence," the UK government wrote.