London. Where people generally take serious things seriously. The London School of Economics, a college of the University of London.
When the revolution in Libya started last February, it became known that the LSE had received donations from organisations funded by former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. LSE director Howard Davies immediately resigned. He said it would be “right to step down... I am responsible for the school’s reputation and that has suffered”.
The LSE declared £300,000 received from Gaddafi foundations had been partly spent and the rest would be turned into student scholarships.
That’s what happened in London after a university college’s dalliance with the Libyan regime.
Over to Malta.
For 40 years, a major political party, the Malta Labour Party, was Col Gaddafi’s “blood brother”, as former Labour leader Dom Mintoff had described it. “We have the same grandparents”, Mr Mintoff said.
It now transpires the CIA knew Labour was funded by Col Gaddafi. Labour’s lavish 1976 campaign raised eyebrows, a campaign of well-packaged threats that Col Gaddafi would turn off the oil tap for Malta if the Nationalists were voted in by the electorate.
In recently declassified internal documents, the CIA says Labour’s behaviour in government during the Egyptair hijack in 1985 can be seen in the light of discussions with Col Gaddafi to fund the party’s 1987 election campaign.
A 1989 Labour activity against the Bush-Gorbachev summit in Malta was also financed by Col Gaddafi, the CIA finds.
Labour’s present leader, Joseph Muscat, has been very reticent during the last six months while Col Gaddafi’s hold on power in Libya was weakening by the day. The Maltese government was saying Col Gaddafi should go and was one of the first to build relations with the National Transitional Council but Labour was telling us that what was happening in Libya was “ugly”. It was certainly not ugly for us Maltese who always viewed Labour’s blood brother ties to Col Gaddafi with suspicion and opposition. And, for the majority of Libyans, it was sweet revenge for four decades of atrocities.
While not condemning Col Gaddafi, Dr Muscat is now telling us that his own leadership did not receive funds from the former Libyan leader. Very revealing about previous Labour leaderships. And we now know that Dr Muscat did receive a donation in kind: a free flight on Col Gaddafi’s private jet so he could trot off to Libya to discuss agreements between the Labour Party and Col Gaddafi. I repeat: the Labour Party and Col Gaddafi. Because Labour’s blood brother ideological politics with Col Gaddafi was no ordinary government-to-government relationship. Labour’s relationship with Col Gaddafi was on a party-to-regime level. That’s why Dr Muscat, on becoming Labour leader, signed party agreements with Col Gaddafi’s regime.
Dr Muscat’s behaviour is very much in line with his predecessors’.
Even though Labour apparatchiks would dearly love us to forget, we do remember Col Gaddafi addressing Labour mass meetings, visiting Labour Party clubs, speaking in Labour Party rallies, his pictures bedecking Labour club facades when Col Gaddafi visited Malta – always when his blood brothers were in government.
Labour leading lights – Alex Sceberras Trigona, Karmenu Vella, Joe Grima, Dennis Sammut, Lorry Sant, Joe Sammut – were frequent guests of the dictator and spared no adjectives in his praise.
We do remember Col Gaddafi’s and Labour’s unstatesmanlike euphoria at seeing the last Nato ship leave the Grand Harbour. We do remember Labour’s September 1 celebrations marking the Libyan revolution by Col Gaddafi. We do remember the Libyans getting the Main Guard, Valletta so that Labour’s blood brother could have pride of place on Palace Square together with the President and Parliament. We do remember Leo Brincat telling us Malta’s EU membership would not amuse Col Gaddafi.
Now, Lino Spiteri tells The Times it is childish of the Nationalist Party to charge Labour with having been in bed with Col Gaddafi. Fellow travellers posing in the “independent” commentariat peddle the Labour line.
Utter bilge. Mr Spiteri wishfully dreams we have forgotten he was in the Labour Cabinet that turned Malta into a servant state of the Socialist Libyan Jamahiriyah and neutralised Malta to Col Gaddafi’s benefit.
If the PL had an ounce of decency, it would start with a big apology to its own supporters for having made their party a Gaddafi club and having declared its supporters Col Gaddafi’s blood brothers, acting accordingly. Then, Labour would apologise to us Maltese for having made Malta a satellite of a pariah state prior to 1987 and subservient to Col Gaddafi’s interests over the EU membership issue.
Labour should tell us how much money it has received from Col Gaddafi, including donations in kind and funding of political organisations that made Labour’s arguments supporting Gaddafi-inspired anti-West nonsense.
Labour should come clean on the illegal immigration that was being organised by none other than its blood brother Col Gaddafi to put pressure on Malta while Dr Muscat was chastising the Maltese government on immigration and telling us Italy was right to turn the immigrants to Malta.
And Labour must understand that it is deeply insulting to non-Labourites when Labour charges anyone else with being equally in bed with Col Gaddafi as Labour was. No, we had no threesomes with Col Gaddafi. Only the Labour Party had the “privilege” of being Col Gaddafi’s blood brother, in thought, in word and in deed.