The British government was sceptical of Eddie Fenech Adami’s “bleak” picture of 1980s Malta, questioning several of his assertions and describing the famously tight-lipped politician as “a gunfire talker”, recently declassified documents reveal.
UK Foreign and Commonwealth documents, seen by The Sunday Times of Malta, describe part of Dr Fenech Adami’s account of one of the island’s tensest political periods as “wild assertions”.
The documents, written by then Deputy High Commissioner Peter Marshall, are the British diplomat’s take on a conversation between Dr Fenech Adami and then Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Minister Janet Young, during a visit to London in 1983.
Dr Fenech Adami had requested the meeting to give his view of the controversial 1981 election, which had been cast in a shadow of Labour gerrymandering, as well as to describe what he felt were the most pressing issues on the island at the time.
Commenting on Dr Fenech Adami’s claims that Dom Mintoff’s Labour Party had rigged the election, Mr Marshall “hesitated” to agree.
The 1981 election had seen Mr Mintoff’s party re-elected despite not gaining a majority of votes. The result itself has since been widely accepted as being the result of gerrymandering, particularly due to inaccuracies between the electoral register and the national population figures.
Despite this, Mr Marshall said the PN’s failure at the polls was instead due to a late start to its electoral campaign, financial considerations “affecting voters’ pockets”, and Mr Mintoff’s grasp over State broadcasting.
“The Nationalist Party’s reiterated assertions about gerrymandering have been increasingly accepted as fact and seem likely to be enshrined in history as truth. For once we can chalk up a success to (PN) propaganda!” Mr Marshall wrote. However, a separate background note on Dr Fenech Adami – sent to Lady Young by another department prior to the meeting – describes the claims of gerrymandering as “justified”.
For once we can chalk up a success to (PN) propaganda
Dr Fenech Adami had also explained why he believed Mr Mintoff had rigged the election, speculating that the Labour prime minister had an “axe to grind” particularly against the Church.
This, Mr Marshall said “smacked of post hoc rationalisation”, as there was “no hint of difference with the Church” at the time.
Church tensions would continue to escalate in the months that followed Dr Fenech Adami’s trip, resulting in the ransacking of the Archbishop’s Curia and the closure of Church schools across the island. In fact, the separate background note, also points to poor relations with the Church, “largely of the government’s own doing”.
Documents held at the British National Archives were declassified last month.
Margaret Thatcher and Eddie Fenech Adami met after the PN swept to government in 1987.Mr Marshall, however, said that “the row” with the Church was only building up in a small way.
Instead, he said that Mr Mintoff would have been dead set on winning the election, because “had the Nationalists come in, some Labour ministers, notably [Lorry] Sant and Patrick Holland, would have certainly been arraigned for corrupt practices”.
Yet another insight into how off the mark Mr Marshall was at the time is his dismissal of Dr Fenech Adami’s speculation that Mr Mintoff was planning to resign. Describing this as “wishful thinking”, Mr Marshall said Mr Mintoff’s recent reshuffle and other political moves were “not the behaviour of a man on his way out”.
Mr Mintoff would, however, go on to resign 15 months after the meeting was held.
Dr Fenech Adami also claimed that former Trade Minister Reno Calleja had been forced to resign because of accusations of corruption made in a Nationalist newspaper. Again, these claims were refuted by Mr Marshall, who points to Mr Calleja’s “relative youth, inexperience, naked ambition and incompetence as a minister” as the reasons behind why he was “dumped”. Mr Marshall goes on to dispute most of Dr Fenech Adami’s claims, including that businesses were leaving the island and that the Nationalist Party was gaining popularity.
Although few a far between, comments were also passed on the meeting by a member of Lady Young’s staff. In a hand written not on the side of one of the documents, the meeting is described as “very useful” and exclaiming “what a talker!” after Dr Fenech Adami’s discussion. Another note said the record keeper had almost broken his wrist trying to keep up with the Nationalist Party leader’s account.
It might not only be Dr Fenech Adami that Mr Marshall misunderstood. In one passage, he also refers to Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mercieca as “weak but popular”.
However, the British were keen to keep in touch with Dr Fenech Adami because they saw him as Malta’s future prime minister, even though they said this was “far from certain”.
Dr Fenech Adami served as prime minister from 1987-1996 and from 1998 to 2004.