When ion 2021, Sensiela Kotba Soċjalisti (SKS) was about to publish Mark Montebello’s book of Dom Mintoff, Judge Lawrence Mintoff raised a massive objection to this prospect and opposed it with all his might. He urged the Prime Minster and the Party to stop the publication from coming out in what seemed to be very unusual and even banal pressure.
Why would a sitting Judge be irked so much about Dom Mintoff’s biography? Well, technically, Judge Lawrence Mintoff is Dom Mintoff’s nephew and there is a story in relation to this fact that Judge Mintoff doesn’t like to be recounted. Judge Mintoff is being banal and ridiculous and his concerns about preventing family scandals from going public may have cost him his career and legacy as he made damning accusations against the Prime Minister. Judge Mintoff is being excessively petty and ridiculous about this matter and his anger about it is only raising more interest.
First things first, although SKS is a Labour Party organ, it doesn’t take orders from the Labour Party. It could technically be ordered around by the Labour Party but this rarely happens unless the Labour Party Leader wants a picture-book to promote himself or something on those lines. SKS is composed of loyal Labour Party members but its operations are not guided by the Party and it has autonomy to fulfill its work and mission.
As one can imagine, when SKS was about to publish Mark Montebello’s book, the pressure by Judge Lawrence Mintoff to stop the publication seemed very unusual and even bizarre. The Prime Minister or the Labour Party Leader never intervened to censor SKS, even when I published my works with it, which include critiques about the Labour Party. Prime Minister Robert Abela barely knew anything about SKS before Judge Mintoff vented his rage and frustrations.
Obviously, his pressure and demands were not adhered to, and the publication went ahead without any changes. No one could imagine the Labour Party leader calling up SKS to demand that they withhold a publication because an individual was irked by a story involving his family. What was troubling was that the person exerting this pressure was a sitting Judge – I found this disturbing. Abuse of power? I think so. And for what? About a historical banality that doesn’t even reflect his own character.
The historical banality that Judge Lawrence Mintoff is so worried about involves the famous story of Dom Mintoff falling off a horse: a myth that has fooled many Labourites across the years with incredible performance art conjured by the party propagandists to fuel the myth, including using symbols of a mythical horse-shoe that was fashionably turned into a buckle. You may probably have heard about the famous story of Dom Mintoff falling off a horse. The design of the horseshoe of the horse that allegedly kicked Mintoff was then turned into a belt-buckle. There’s one problem with this story: it is not true, and if it is true, it is not what it seems.
Fast-forward a bit. In 1991, Lawrence Mintoff was a Labour Party MP. He was a Labour Party rebel and was clashing with top party officials and stalwarts over violence, corruption and the conservative stagnation that had dominated the party. Firing back was Lorry Sant, who, to humiliate Lawrence Mintoff, walked to him during a recorded parliamentary debate, and slammed on his bench a sealed envelop with a number of photos. It was blackmail and an obvious threat, only that the threat was banal and frivolous and people, like Lawrence Mintoff himself, have only been scandalised about it due to our inhibitions and insecurities.
The photos were basically images of Lawrence Mintoff’s mother, Astrid, topless on a yacht with Dom Mintoff. Astrid Mintoff had a long-term extra-marital affair with Dom Mintoff. She was a woman who stood her ground in a male dominated world and did whatever she liked and desired. She was also very bossy with Dom Mintoff’s entourage and ordered his men around, causing the ire of Dom Mintoff’s own personal secretary, Joe Camilleri. Astrid Mintoff exuded a very strong character and presence and this enabled her to distinguish herself in a very male-dominated world.
Lawrence Mintoff has always been embarrassed by this story – he has no reason to be so. It doesn’t reflect his character and it’s just history. The story did cause some rumours that Lawrence Mintoff is Dom Mintoff’s son – this is not true. Lawrence Mintoff is definitely the son of Daniel Mintoff (Dom Mintoff’s brother) and Astrid.
There’s another aspect to the story which irks Judge Mintoff, and this is the part which prompted him to accuse the Prime Minister of publishing a book that accuses Mintoff’s family of committing a “criminal act”. What total rubbish, drama and sensationalism. Let’s go back to that horse.
Mintoff did indeed fall off a horse, but that fall had nothing to do with the bruises and wounds he was seen with afterwards. The story of the fall was just a convenient cover. In reality, Daniel Mintoff, Dom’s brother, beat him severely over his relationship with his wife, Astrid.
Yet the public was told a different version. Dom Mintoff and his associates maintained that he had been injured in a riding accident, because admitting that he had been thrashed by his own brother — over an affair with his sister-in-law — was unthinkable. The horse became the explanation; the truth, on the other hand was only known to insiders.
So, the “criminal act” that Judge Lawrence Mintoff is talking about is just his father beating up Dom Mintoff.
Judge Lawrence Mintoff may have lost his career just because he is irked about the revelations of this story. That’s quite a sad and ridiculous way to end your brilliant career: fighting for your family’s honour over something that is not necessarily dishonourable. What a waste.
All of this is in Mark Montebello’s biography about Dom Mintoff titled: The tail that wagged the dog: The life and struggles of Dom Mintoff, 1916 – 2012.
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