8 Things We Learnt From Joseph Muscat’s Election Book
In 2013, the Labour Party launched a book about Joseph Muscat as part of its electoral campaign. Now the party has done it again, this time presenting a compilation of many of the speeches Muscat made during his time as Prime Minister. This includes some speeches that take on a whole new meaning when read within the context of this election campaign. Like the first official government speech, in which he promised to “clean up politics” and rebuild faith in politicians by taking steps to defeat any “corruption tax”.
But the book also includes a few pages of reflections written by Muscat himself, where he opens up about some key moments in this legislature and some of his main plans for when he is re-elected. We read the book and picked out these highlights.
1. Panama Papers was his “biggest disappointment”
He says it was also the thing that could have caused the biggest harm to the country, “but thank God did not”. And then he goes into this explanation: “First of all, as everyone knows, both in Malta and abroad, my government does not tolerate corruption. This is something everybody knows and I declare it again here. This is one of the reasons why I was so disappointed that the Opposition tried to taint us, including me personally and members of my family, with this thing. Secondly, I’ve said it and I’ll say it again: when there is black and white proof of corruption, everyone can remain certain that I will be the first to take immediate steps. Irrespective if they are friends, supporters or relatives. Having said that, it remains the worst day of my time as Prime Minister when in the third week of April 2017, my dear wife Michelle was thrust into this despicable story. I hurt in a big way because the poisoned arrows reached my heart.”
One of the first photos to appear in the book is Joseph Muscat at his first Holy Communion
2. Muscat was quite hurt by the copy of The Economist that was left deliberately on his desk for his first day in office
After his short statement on Panama Papers, Muscat goes on to criticise the Opposition for its “paroli fil-vojt” (empty words) throughout the legislature. He says he longs for the day the Opposition could be positive and constructive. Then he recounts the day he walked into Castille for the first time only to find a copy of The Economist with the headline “Send In The Clowns”, which he translated as “Ħallu l-pulċinelli jidħlu”.
“Whoever left this message there – and we later found out who it was because he bragged about it – insulted not just me, because for me it was just puerile, but the office of the Prime Minister. I guess it was funny, but not completely.”
This is the moment Muscat found The Economist on his new desk at Castille
3. His proudest moment was the introduction of Civil Unions, but the next big step will be the advancement of women
As he said before, Muscat’s proudest achievement in this legislature was the introduction of civil unions. He says April 14th 2014 was a day he would never forget. However, the special focus of his second legislature would be the advancement of women. Women remain disadvantaged in various aspects of society, he says. “The time may have come to introduce quotas for women at various levels of political and administrative leadership.”
Muscat’s wife and twin children feature prominently throughout his personal reflections
4. He believes he solved “the big problem of illegal immigration”
He doesn’t really say how he did it, but he says that after insisting with the EU, the UN, the Commonwealth and the Council of Europe, Malta’s voice prevailed. “Today we’ve reached a point where the worst of this crisis is over. No, not only did we not exacerbate the problem, but we actually solved it permanently.”
The Muscat family meeting Pope Francis
5. Muscat is an only child, but wasn’t going to be
Muscat was born on 22nd January 1974 to his parents Saviour and Grace née Borg. Saviour was from a middle-class family of Mintoffians and Grace was from a farming family of Nationalists. The biography goes on to say that Muscat was an only child. His mother Grace did get pregnant with another child afterwards, but miscarried. The book also talks about how Michelle Muscat’s first pregnancy also ended in a miscarriage, and this was an incredibly difficult period for the couple, who were living in Brussels at the time.
Muscat with his mother Grace after he graduated
6. Muscat has been working with the Labour Party for 25 years
When he was 18, Muscat began working as a journalist at Super One (which later rebranded as One). He also served voluntarily at the Labour Centre in St Paul’s Bay. But his first elected role within the party came a year later, when he was elected Financial Secretary of the youth wing Forum Żgħażagħ Laburisti.
7. Muscat is still planning to revise the Constitution into a Second Republic
Muscat admits that he did not manage to lead the country toward a new Constitution in the past legislature. He says this was because initial discussions showed the reform would have to be bigger than initial presumed. He plans to get the job done in the next legislature.
Muscat at his swearing in as Prime Minister in 2013
8. The author believes this legislature has been the best government since Mintoff’s 1976
The last page of the book, which was authored by One News editor Aleander Balzan, ends with a short passage about how this is the best time for Malta.
“Before, everybody used to say that the best government the Maltese and Gozitans ever had since Independence, in general, was the one led by Dom Mintoff between 1971 and 1976, and they were right. Despite this, the last government, led by Dr Joseph Muscat, certainly didn’t drop the baton. It could be that this government was the best since 1976.”
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