A newly released 60-year-old British government file on Dom Mintoff shows that in 1944 he was already being considered by the authorities as a man with "a lot of half-baked political ideas" who "would do no good in Malta".

The insight into this early view of Mr Mintoff can be found in a British government file compiled between 1942 and 1944 - shortly after he had graduated from Oxford. It was due to remain secret for 75 years but was opened early last month at the request of The Times under England's new Freedom of Information Act.

The compilation of the file was initially spurred by Mr Mintoff himself, then just 27, when he made a request to return to Malta as a matter of urgency as he regarded the "enforced prolongation" of his stay in Britain as "a slow and unbearable torture".

He was keen, according to the file, to help with the rebuilding of a Malta ravaged by war. At the time he was working as a civilian garrison engineer in the War Department on £440. Mintoff being Mintoff, he demanded priority.

Mr Mintoff certainly had the support of the Rhodes Trustees, who described him as "a very assiduous and satisfactory" Rhodes scholar and said that his qualifications as an engineer would be very useful at that time. However, one British official wrote on his application: "Mintoff is a nasty piece of work who accuses us of obstructing his return". But he eventually found his way home.

However, at the end of the summer of 1944, Mr Mintoff wanted to return to England. Some British officials were not overjoyed: "He is a boy who has imbibed during his education in this country a lot of halfbaked political ideas and is disappointed in not being accepted by Labour in Malta as their natural leader of the new dawn."

But there was no objection, as such, to his returning to the UK. In fact, the Lieutenant Governor's Office in Malta seemed rather pleased: "Mintoff was offered more than one post in the government service but refused to accept at the rate of pay offered. Since his return (to Malta) he has been very fully occupied on the repair and rebuilding of private houses and I understand is earning considerable sums.

"In fact, his great ambition was to come back to Malta and lead the left wing of the Labour Party. I am told he has been greatly disappointed by the reception given to him by the workers and that, apart from a few young students and a very limited number of extremist socialists, he cuts very little weight in Malta. He is a most ambitious young man and considers that he should be employed by government to plan noble buildings. Patterson saw a good deal of him while he was here. He thinks Mintoff an able and energetic youth but is quite sure that he will do no good in Malta...

"We are hard up for engineers and architects but... are all agreed that the sooner we get rid of Mintoff the better for everyone, including Mintoff himself. There is, of course, no question of asking him to return."

He duly went to England. However, as history indeed showed, he did not need to be asked to return. Much to the chagrin, once again, of the British.