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Dom Mintoff (born Dominic Mintoff, Maltese Duminku Mintoff; sometimes referred to simply as il-Perit (the architect); August 6, 1916) is a Maltese politician, journalist and architect, who served as leader of the Labour Party from 1949 to 1984, Prime Minister of Malta from 1955 to 1958 (when Malta was still a British crown colony) and again, post-Independence, from 1971 to 1984.^[1] Mintoff's time as Prime Minister was notable for a general increase in the average standard of living^[2] and the establishment of a comprehensive welfare state.^[3][4]

Early life and education[link]

Dom Mintoff was born in Bormla. He attended the Archbishop's seminary before enrolling at the University of Malta. He graduated Bachelor of Science (1937) and, later, as an architect and civil engineer (1939). That same year he received a scholarship and pursued his studies at Hertford College, Oxford University from where he received a Masters in Science and Engineering in 1943.

Early political career (1935–49)[link]

After a brief stint as an official of the Bormla Labour Party club, Mintoff was Labour's Secretary General between 1935 and 1945 (resigning briefly to pursue his studies abroad). He was first elected to public office in 1945 to the Government Council. In the same year, Mintoff was elected Deputy Leader of the Party with such a wide margin that placed him in an indisputable position as the successor, if not a challenger, to the Leader Paul Boffa.

After restoration of responsible government and a Labour victory at the polls in 1947, Mintoff was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Works and Reconstruction, overseeing large post-War public projects.

Leader of the Labour Party (1949–84)[link]

However, Mintoff's strong position and ambition led to a series of Cabinet crises. A split in the Labour Party came about when Boffa, who was ready for compromise and moderation with the colonial authorities, resigned and formed the Malta Workers Party and Mintoff refounded the Labour Party as the "Malta Labour Party" of which he assumed leadership. The split resulted in the weakening of both parties and it was not until 1955 after remaining out of government for three consecutive legislatures, that the Labour Party was elected in office with Mintoff as Prime Minister.

This government's main political platform – integration with the UK – led to a deterioration of the Party's relations with the Catholic Church, leading to interdiction by the Church. The Labour Party lost the subsequent two elections in 1962 and 1966 and boycotted the Independence celebrations in 1964. The Party was returned to power in 1971 and reelected in 1976 with a clear majority.

Apart from the premiership, between 1971 and 1981 Mintoff also held responsibility for foreign and Commonwealth affairs. In this role between 1971 and 1972 he personally led negotiations with the British government over the closure of the military base which took place in 1979. He also established close cultural and economic ties with Colonel Gaddafi's Libya.^[5]

For the 1981 elections, the opposition Nationalist Party, reinvigorated with a new leader, looked set for a serious challenge to Mintoff. In fact, in that election, the Partit Nazzjonalista managed an absolute majority of votes, but probably gerrymandered districts meant that it managed only 31 seats to the Labour Party's 34. Mintoff said that he would not be ready to govern in such conditions and hinted that he would call for fresh elections within six months. However, this was not to be: Mintoff eventually accepted the President's invitation to form a government.

This led to a political crisis whose effects continued through much of the 1980s, as well as increasing political violence in the street such as the Black Monday incident.

Labour backbencher (1984–1998)[link]

Mintoff resigned as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party in 1984, while retaining his Parliamentary seat and remaining a government backbencher. He was succeeded by Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici. Mintoff was instrumental in convincing his parliamentary colleagues to support constitutional amendments ensuring a parliamentary majority for the party achieving an absolute majority of votes. A repeat of 1981 was thus avoided, and the Partit Nazzjonalista went on to win the 1987 elections. The Labour Party went into opposition for the first time in sixteen years.

Mintoff successfully contested the 1987, 1992 and 1996 elections. He generally held a low profile whether or not his Party was in power. However, there was a growing rift between Mintoff, seen as Old Labour, and Alfred Sant, the new Labour Leader. Things came to a head in 1998 when the Labour government was negotiating the lease of sealine to be developed in a yacht marina in Birgu. Mintoff eventually voted against the government's motion which was defeated.

The President, acting on Prime Minister Sant's advice dissolved Parliament and elections were held. This was the first time, since the war, that Mintoff's name was not on the ballot paper and the Malta Labour Party, divided and deep in mid-term blues, lost heavily.

Post-parliamentary (1998 to date)[link]

Since retiring from parliamentary politics, Mintoff's involvement in public life has only been occasional. He made some appearances in the referendum campaign on Malta's membership to the EU and, with Alfred Sant being replaced in 2008, some rapproachment with Labour was made.

Mintoff was awarded the 2008 Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights.

Personal life[link]

Mintoff was married to the late Moyra de Vere Bentinck^[6] whom he had met during his studies in Oxford and had two daughters, Anne and Yana.

He is also well known for his love of horses, swimming and boċċi.

See also[link]

• Prime Minister of Malta
• List of Prime Ministers of Malta

References[link]

External links[link]

• U.S. Navy wanted to kill Mintoff, The Malta Independent, January 26, 2008.

v t e Prime Ministers of Malta Joseph Howard Francesco Buhagiar Ugo Pasquale Mifsud Gerald Strickland Ugo Pasquale Mifsud office abolished, 1933-1947 Paul Boffa Enrico Mizzi Giorgio Borg Olivier Dom Mintoff office abolished, 1958-1962 Giorgio Borg Olivier Dom Mintoff Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici Eddie Fenech Adami Alfred Sant Eddie Fenech Adami Lawrence Gonzi

The Honourable Joseph Muscat MP
Malta's Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2008
President	Eddie Fenech Adami George Abela
Deputy	Angelo Farrugia
Preceded by	Charles Mangion
Member of Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2008
Preceded by	Joseph Cuschieri
Leader of the Labour Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 June 2008
Deputy	Toni Abela
Preceded by	Alfred Sant
Member of the European Parliament
In office 12 June 2004 – 25 September 2008
Preceded by	New Constituency
Succeeded by	Glenn Bedingfield
Majority	36,958
Personal details
Born	(1974-01-22) 22 January 1974 (age 38) Pietà, Malta
Nationality	Maltese
Political party	Labour Party (Malta)
Spouse(s)	Michelle née Tanti
Children	Etoile Ella Soleil Sophie
Residence	Burmarrad (St. Paul's Bay)
Profession	Economist Journalist
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	www.josephmuscat.com www.mlp.org.mt

Joseph Muscat (born January 22, 1974) is a Maltese politician who has been leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives of Malta since 2008.

Education[link]

Muscat graduated Bachelor of Commerce in Management and Public Policy from the (University of Malta, 1995), Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Public Policy (University of Malta, 1996), Master of Arts in European Studies (University of Malta, 1997) and Ph.D in Management Research (University of Bristol, 2007).

Journalism[link]

Muscat worked as a journalist with the Party's radio station, Super One Radio (today One Radio). He later took on a similar role at Super One TV (today One TV).[1], becoming the station's assistant head of news in 1996. He was also editor of Party's online newspaper, maltastar.com [2] between 2001 and 2004.

Politics[link]

Muscat was as a member of the youth section of the Labour Party, the Labour Youth Forum (Forum Żgħażagħ Laburisti) where he served as Financial Secretary (1994–97) and Acting Chairperson (1997). He later served as Education Secretary in the Central Administration of the Party (2001–2003) and Chairman of its Annual General Conference (November 2003). During the Labour government of 1996-98 he was a member of the National Commission for Fiscal Morality (1997–98). Between 1998 and 2003, Joseph Muscat campaigned actively against Malta's membership in the European Union.

In 2003 he was nominated to a working group led by George Vella and Evarist Bartolo on the Labour Party's policies on the European Union. This working group produced the document Il-Partit Laburista u l-Unjoni Ewropea: Għall-Ġid tal-Maltin u l-Għawdxin ('Labour Party and the European Union: For the benefit of the Maltese and the Gozitans') which was adopted by the Labour Party Extraordinary General Conference in November of that year. At this General Conference Muscat was approved as a candidate for the election to the European Parliament.

European Parliament[link]

Muscat was elected to the European Parliament in the 2004 European Parliament election being the Labour Party receiving the most first-preferences. Sitting as a Member of the European Parliament with the Party of European Socialists, he held the post of Vice-President of the Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and substitute member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection. He was a member of a number of delegations for relations with Belarus and with the countries of south-east Europe. He was also a member of the EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committees.

As an MEP he supported a reduction in the tax for Satellite television, the right for customers to watch sport events for free and a number of issues related to environmental protection in Malta. He formed part of a team responsible for a report on the roaming mobile phone bills and sale of banks.

Muscat resigned his seat in the European Parliament in 2008 to take up a seat in the Maltese Parliament and the role of Leader of the Opposition after being elected Leader of the Labour Party. Before his resignation his report proposing new regulations for the EU’s financial services sector was adopted by the European Parliament.

2008 Leader of Labour Party campaign[link]

On March 24, 2008 Muscat announced his candidacy for Leader of Labour Party, to replace Alfred Sant, who resigned after a third consecutive defeat for the Party in the March 2008 general election and a heavy defeat in the EU referendum in March 2003. Muscat was elected as the new party leader on June 6, 2008.

He was co-opted in the Maltese Parliament on 1 October 2008 to fill the seat vacated by Joseph Cuschieri, the latter gaining the 6th Maltese seat for the European Parliament as the Treaty of Lisbon has been brought into effect, (de facto) on the 6th of June, 2011 and (de jure) on the 1st of December, 2011.

2009 Maltese European Parliament Elections[link]

In the 2009 Maltese European Parliament Elections, the first with Muscat as Party Leader, Labour Party candidates obtained 55% of first-preferences against the 40% obtained by candidates of the Nationalist Party.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of Joseph Muscat: www.josephmuscat.com
• European Parliament biography of Joseph Muscat (incl. Speeches, Questions and Motions)

Jeremy Boissevain (born 1928) is Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research (University of Amsterdam).

Academic background[link]

Boissevain graduated for his PhD in 1962 at the London School of Economics and has subsequently taught at the Universities of Montreal, Sussex, Malta, New York (Stony Brook), Massachusetts (Amherst), Columbia University and the Jagiellonian University in Cracow.

Bibliography[link]

• Saints and Fireworks: Religion and Politics in Rural Malta (1965, 1993)
• Hal-Farrug: A Village in Malta (1969)
• The Italians of Montreal (1970)
• Network Analysis (editor, 1973)
• Friends of Friends: Networks, Manipulators and Coalitions (1974)
• Beyond the Community (editor, 1975)
• Ethnic Challenge (editor, 1984)
• Dutch Dilemmas: Anthropologists Look at the Netherlands (editor, 1989)
• Revitalizing European Rituals (editor, 1992)
• Coping with Tourists: European Reactions to Mass Tourism (1996)

See also[link]

• Political anthropology

External links[link]

• http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/ancestors/Boissevain.html Video interview with Jeremy Boissevain
• http://www.assr.nl/ Website of the Amsterdam School for Social science Research, where Boissevain currently works

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