The Nationalist Party was a "violent" opposition, bent on provoking trouble in the 1980s, according to former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici.

In an interview with Herman Grech, Dr Mifsud Bonnici accuses the PN of conveniently fanning the infamous incidents of the 1980s until this very day for its propaganda.

"The opposition had the freedom to make its position known... We had a violent opposition. And nowadays, everybody turns a blind eye to this. At least once a week there was a bomb attempt outside someone’s residence to intimidate the government. The bombs were intended to de-stabilise the (Labour) party,” he says, when probed about the notorious thugs who surrounded his own government.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici also claims that the Nationalists had reneged on a secret agreement with the Labour Party to appoint Dom Mintoff as President in 1987.

The 75-year-old lawyer also says that he had been approached to contest the MEP elections as an independent, but had turned down the offer. Watch excerpts of the interview above.

Read the entire interview in today's edition of The Sunday Times.

(http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090125/local/pn-backed-out-of-deal-to-make-mintoff-president-in-1987-kmb)