Timeline:

Dom Mintoff

• 1916 – Born in Cospicua and studied at the Seminary, the Lyceum and the Royal University of Malta

• 1935 – Entered politics as assistant secretary of the Cospicua Labour Party club; served as general secretary of the Labour Party for two years, but had to resign to proceed with his studies abroad

• 1939 – Awarded a Rhodes scholarship and obtained his qualifications in science and engineering

• 1944 – On his return from England he was again appointed general secretary but resigned when he was elected deputy leader

• 1945 – Successfully contested the general elections for the Council of Government

• 1947 – Married Moira Bentick and they later had two daughters, Anne and Joan

• 1947 – After the Labour Party victory in the elections, Mr Mintoff was chosen as minister of works and reconstruction, a post he held up to September 1949. He was engaged in reconstruction and slum demolition in Cottonera

• 1949 – Became the leader of the Malta Labour Party (MLP), while Sir Paul Boffa launched the Malta Workers Party

• 1950 – Was elected again, and was sworn in as leader of the Opposition after the 1951 and 1953 elections

• 1955 – Led the MLP to an electoral victory. That same year he led a delegation to a roundtable conference in London to discuss the question of integration

• 1956 – In a referendum, 75% voted ‘yes’ for integration, but 40% of the electorate had boycotted the referendum

• 1958 – Resigned in protest against the British, an action which was followed by a general strike and riots all over the island on 28 April. He then led an MLP delegation to London to discuss the re-introduction of self-government

• 1962 – Contested the 1962 and 1966 elections when the Church declared that it was a mortal sin to vote for the MLP

• 1970s – Closed the Faculty of Arts

• 1971 – He was leader of the Opposition up to June 1971 when he won the elections, and the first thing he did as prime minister was to remove Sir Maurice Dorman from the post of governor general and appointed in his stead a Maltese, Sir Anthony Mamo, who in 1974 was chosen as the first president of the Republic of Malta

• 1973 – Mr Mintoff’s first government decriminalised homosexuality

• 1973 – Mr Mintoff nationalised the National Bank of Malta without offering compensation to shareholders

• 1974 – Malta became a republic

• 1975 – Introduced civil marriage

• 1979 – Introduction of the two-thirds pension scheme and the payment of one-twelfth of a wage per week as a social security contribution for entitlement to a pension

• 1979 – Made Malta totally free when the last British forces left the islands

• 1979 – Closure of British military base

• 1979 – Thugs attacked and set fire to The Times building in Valletta during a spontaneous political rally by MLP supporters. Mr Mintoff failed to condemn the violence

• 1981 – Labour remained in government despite the fact that 51% of the electorate voted in favour of the PN. The victory was sanctioned due to the supremacy of seats, which was constitutionally legal

• 1984 – Resigned as prime minister and leader of the MLP after sixteen-and-a-half years as prime minister, but retained his parliamentary seat. Mr Mintoff handpicked Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici as his successor

• 1986 – Mr Mintoff brokered an agreement between the two parties which enshrined majority rule in the Constitution together with neutrality and non-alignment, thus paving the way for a change in government in 1987

• 1998 – Voted against the Labour government headed by Alfred Sant on a motion on the Cottonera development. He had given a press conference on Net TV because he was banned from Super 1 TV, the Labour Party’s television station

• 2008 – Awarded the Gaddafi Peace Prize by the International Committee for the Gaddafi Award for Human Rights

• 2012 – Mr Mintoff dies, aged 96

Source: Schiavone Michael J.,

Dictionary of Maltese Biographies