Former Speaker of the House Daniel Micallef said it was his integrity which gave him the courage to fight for what he believed was right during the turbulent 1980s.

Fighting the ills of the Labour Party from within, and winning the respect of his political adversaries in the process, Dr Micallef nevertheless strongly believed in his Socialist principles.

In an interview with The Sunday Times today, Dr Micallef speaks of the way he challenged the trouble-makers in his party.

“I kicked (former Works Minister) Lorry Sant out of Parliament after he insulted me. Despite Mintoff’s request to call him back in, I refused. I chased after him, calling him corrupt.”

He later says: “I had the courage to threaten my government. I told them a building had to be gutted or else it would be the government which would be gutted. Nobody in the PN ever did that.”

It was a time of political strife when the Nationalists boycotted Parliament for 11 months in protest at the December 1981 election result.

Dr Micallef felt his party had the constitutional mandate to govern for a third term but was determined to rope the Nationalists back into Parliament.

He said: “I told Guido de Marco: ‘Do you think I’m happy operating with half a Parliament, and most of it is corrupt? I told him the PN were silent accomplices for what was happening in the country.”

The former environment and education minister also speaks of his perspective of politics nowadays as well as his love for the environment and alternative remedies.

Click the link above to watch excerpts of the interview.

Read the entire interview with Herman Grech in The Sunday Times today.