Soon after forming his Cabinet – which included Lorry Sant, who, in a deliberately provocative move, was given responsibility for law and order – Mintoff started sending out feelers that he wished to meet me.

I had boycotted the new year’s greetings with the new acting president, Albert Hyzler, because I was not consulted over his appointment a few days earlier. This heightened the tension. When I did meet Mintoff, on 7 January 1982, we discussed the proposed appointees to the Public Service Commission, but I was more interested in making a forceful argument that he had to do something to resolve the anomalous political situation.

Mintoff had an intellectual inferiority complex. This made him resort to bullying tactics

Ever since I had taken over as leader, he had tried to bully me. Knowing his frame of mind, I made sure I got the message across that any effort to get me to kowtow to him in these circumstances was not going to work. I was very determined not to give in and told him in no uncertain terms we meant what we were saying. We would not accept the result, we would resist it at all costs and we would ensure the issue remained on the agenda. He accused me of arrogance, telling me more than once that I was talking this way because I wanted to be prime minister.

That was not my primary objective at this stage. However, I refused to acknowledge him as the country’s leader. Whenever I wrote to him during this period I never addressed him as prime minister; only as Mr Mintoff. This irritated him immensely.

I made it clear we were seeking an early election, but told him it did not have to be immediate. I was aware, as was he, that before going to the polls again the country had to put its house in order with regard to the electoral system. We had to ensure there would be no repeat of the perverse 1981 result. I knew this could take months, possibly longer, and was therefore confident my argument would resonate with him.

I had always known Mintoff to be an intelligent, well-read and cultured man. However, I have heard it said, and tend to agree, that he had an intellectual inferiority complex. This made him resort to bullying tactics. He seemed to resent people whom he considered were on a similar intellectual level and attempted to deride them so he could keep on top of things...

This contradiction in his character can, I think, be explained through his background. He often recounted that the first thing he remembered about Castille was his father being chef to the admiral there. Overturning that situation did not only provide him with a feeling of satisfaction, but also a sense of revenge. It was the opportunity he had been waiting for to get his own back on the stratum of society he felt had slighted him...

Yet for all his belligerence, I believe Mintoff was sincere when he said there was a possibility of holding an early election. I do not think he really wanted to remain in power without the backing of the majority of the electorate.

He might have been prepared to stay for six months or even a year, but my feeling was that deep down he wanted to go to the polls again for the sake of his pride. A number of his Cabinet members were opposed to this, particularly his finance minister, Lino Spiteri, who had not been in parliament since the 1960s and was therefore keen to seize the opportunity, along with Joe Grima, Lorry Sant and Wistin Abela, though the latter carried less weight than the others.

They argued that there was nothing illegal about Labour remaining in government.

I expected Mintoff to resist, but instead he chose to give way.

However, I think he had immediately resolved in his mind that he would not stay on as leader beyond a particular date.

This became evident by 1983, when he took the matter into his own hands and started wooing us to return to parliament. I believe he was certain the Labour Party would lose the next election and wanted to ease himself out, while at the same time trying to carve out an opportunity to go for the presidency instead.