I refer to the article entitled Depressed Borg Olivier Said Mintoff Was A Miser.

The article, quoting sources on the internet from the US National Archives databases, mentions that “both (PN) party leader Borg Olivier and deputy leader (Ċensu) Tabone are completely ineffective” and “Tabone, on other hand, is not very intelligent”.

What the author should have mentioned was that these comments were the personal opinion of then Nationalist Party MP Mario Felice who at the time was vying for the party leadership. Dr Felice expressed this opinion in an interview with the American Ambassador to Malta.

While Dr Felice had every right to air this personal opinion about other people, in this interview he also discussed other highly sensitive party issues with the American Ambassador. Whether he had a right to do this is much more questionable.

Many people who over the years knew Dr Tabone do not share Dr Felice’s views on his intellectual ability. Alfred Sant, a former prime minister and political adversary, among others, referred to Dr Tabone as “wise”. I can quote many other such examples.

In my nearly 50 years of close personal relationship with Dr Tabone as a son-in-law I never found him lacking in intelligence. One thing he certainly never was: disloyal to party, friends or adversaries.