The Prime Minister’s foreign media guru, Leslie Skipper, has been awarded another €7,000 a year retainer, this time by Malta Enterprise.
Information published in The Malta Government Gazette, the entity responsible for attracting investment to Malta hired Mr Skipper’s services “to assist the State entity in public relations efforts targeted towards the UK market”. His engagement is for 12 months.
Questions sent to the Office of the Prime Minister on whether this retainer was over and above the €3,600 a month Mr Skipper is paid for his services to the Prime Minister remained unanswered at the time of writing.
Mr Skipper, who used to work for the BBC, also advised Dr Muscat and the Labour Party while in Opposition.
As soon as Labour was returned to power, Mr Skipper, who describes himself in a promotional website as “a speechwriter providing the words to get people listening”, was put on the government payroll as part of the Prime Minister’s communications team. He was being paid €25 an hour apart from the €7,000 a year retainer.
Providing the words to get people listening
His contract was eventually changed, entitling him to a €3,600 fixed payment every month “to provide technical assistance to and advise the Prime Minister and other secretariats”.
Apart from his work at Castille, Mr Skipper was last year also roped in the official PBS team promoting singer Ira Losco at the Eurovision Song Contest. It is not known whether he was paid for his services and, if so, how much.
Malta Enterprise’s latest retainer to Mr Skipper follows its renewal of the contract given to the Prime Minister’s envoy to Asia, Sai Mizzi Liang, the wife of the Minister Within the Office of the Prime Minister, Konrad Mizzi. She had been selected by the Prime Minister soon after the election and given a three-year contract to “sell Malta” in Asia.
Last February, Dr Mizzi had told the press his wife had decided to return to Malta at the end of her contract, in August 2016. However, after months of silence and dodging of questions by Malta Enterprise, it was confirmed this week that Ms Mizzi Liang’s €13,000 a month job has been renewed “until her replacement is found”.
ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com