Efforts to make Debono Grech withdraw MLP resignation

Labour Party general secretary Jason Micallef is determined to persuade MP Joe Debono Grech to withdraw his resignation from the party, which he handed in on Saturday following 50 years of loyal service.

"I, personally, am not accepting the resignation and will do everything possible so that Mr Debono Grech will withdraw his resignation," Mr Micallef told The Times when contacted yesterday.

Mr Micallef confirmed that Mr Debono Grech, the party's most senior parliamentarian, handed in his resignation personally at the party headquarters late on Saturday afternoon.

The letter, which did not give a reason for the decision, was addressed to Mr Micallef who explained that it clearly stated that Mr Debono Grech was resigning from the party but not as an MP.

Earlier yesterday, before contacting Mr Micallef, The Times contacted newly-elected Labour leader Joseph Muscat and Opposition Leader Charles Mangion in an attempt to confirm the resignation, which was reported by the General Workers' Union's weekly It-Torċa.

None of them was in a position to confirm. Dr Muscat said he personally had not received any resignation letter from Mr Debono Grech. Dr Mangion preferred not to comment.

Various attempts were made to contact Mr Debono Grech. When his son picked up the phone, he said his father was not giving any comments to the media and that everything he had to say had been said to Mr Micallef.

Last night TVM said in its eight o'clock news bulletin that during a meeting at the Sta Venera Labour Party club, Dr Muscat had a private meeting with members of Mr Debono Grech's family.

Mr Debono Grech, who endorsed Marie Louise Coleiro Preca during the Labour Party leadership race, started in the party in 1958 as a secretary and then as president of several branches of the party.

He contested the general election for the first time in 1966 and became a member of Parliament in 1971. In 1983, he was appointed Parastatal and Investments Minister and later held the agriculture and fisheries portfolio until 1987.

When Labour was re-elected in 1996 he served as Transport and Ports Minister. He also served as shadow minister for the Malta International Airport, is the MLP's representative at the Council of Europe and is a member of the Socialist Bureau at the Council of Europe.