News • 11 May 2003

Working to make Labour electable

Dr John Attard Montalto has been extremely busy in the days before the leadership contest and Julian Manduca found it hard to track him down for an interview

Dr John Attard Montalto was born into the Malta Labour Party and is ready to sacrifice his political career to see a better and electable party.

Attard Montalto is a successful lawyer, but his heart is in politics and is hoping Labour delegates will see him as the person who will take Labour back into power.

Montalto is contesting the Labour Party’s leadership position, but sees this as a beginning rather than an end. "For me the leadership contest is not symbolic and its significance will be appreciated in the years to come.

"Sacrificing my parliamentary seat in the future –if that should be the case - does not mean that in the next five years I am not going to do my utmost to see my party in government. I am determined to participate to the full within the party structures to make the changes which I deem so necessary."

John Attard Montalto is a determined politician with his heart in the right place and a vision for the MLP’s future. He believes he is the right candidate to take the Labour Party into government and insists a new team should lead the party towards the next elections.

Montalto will contest the leadership election together with incumbent Alfred Sant and MP Anglu Farrugia and is not expecting any other contestants, although he does not rule anything out. "Life is full of surprises, and it would have been much healthier if there were more contestants – this should be a race between friends after all."

"There are other valid people who would make a valid contribution should they have desired the leadership position, including Evarist Bartolo and Karmenu Vella from inside the parliament."

"There are also several people outside the party that could be very valid leaders, one name that has never been mentioned is Louis Grech the chairman of Air Malta, he has all the attributes as a leader."

While Montalto is on record saying his political career is over he still intends contesting the leadership contest and does not see a contradiction.

"I realise that my statements related to the process of the Labour leadership handing in their resignations was not received enthusiastically to say the least.

"Unfortunately one of the reasons for this was not what I said but the way it was conveyed. Whereas nearly all the media gave me the opportunity to explain that it was necessary the Labour party approaches the next election with a new team, Super One did not give me that opportunity and has for the past three weeks taken me to task for my declarations.

"I was even told that if I had something to say, I should do so on Super One, when that station is not giving me the opportunity to explain or defend myself.

"Obviously I realise that my public statement has seriously damaged my political future at constituency levels, but I am determined to contest the leadership post."

It has been suggested that there are several close to Alfred Sant that at this point are fighting not only for what they believe in, but also to retain their jobs and quality of life. "There are a number of persons who are very supportive of Dr Sant and at the same time are employees of the party or its subsidiaries. To be sincere, this is not generic and does not apply to all persons in positions of trust who are in the employment of the party, but I imagine there are some who have talked about their particular positions if there is to be a change in leadership.

"Perhaps the right approach would be to remove the possibility of conflict of interest. This can be overcome by having persons employed with the party that operate professionally without being involved in the political structures. But on the other hand a counter argument refers to Jimmy Magro who has been extremely balanced during the past weeks."

Since Super One is not allowing space to the potential Labour leaders it is not clear how these will be judged, and Montalto agrees there are difficluties: "to be quite honest they can’t judge the contestants, take my example, I am participating in a race with a three week internal media handicap."

"Whoever is chosen as leader, Attard Montalto hopes it will be someone with the four ‘c’s as attributes: "charisma, courage, credibility and consistency."

"A leader should be someone able to make his or her party electable. It is important for a leader to project in a way that people can feel comfortable speaking and listening to them and also feel attracted on a human level. That is what charisma is all about.

"One cannot be a leader unless one is able to face your opponents, even when playing away so to speak, in parliament and everywhere else, on the media for instance. A leader cannot preach only to one’s own audience, and must have the courage to speak her or his mind even if what one has to say is not appealing to one’s listeners.

"One cannot lead a party and not project credibility. People must believe their leaders. Politicians have a deficit as they are looked upon with blinkers by the general public and therefore good leaders must be credible.

"To be credible one has to be consistent. People will judge major decisions not only on whether these decisions should be reversed or kept, but rather on whether the correct decision has been taken. Once one has taken a decision it is important to appear consistent."

I asked Attard Montalto whether Alfred Sant was seen to have all the four ‘c’ attributes, and his reply was: "I don’t agree that any political party should develop into an organisation where it is perceived that the leader is a person whose judgement is always right. The cult of the leader has always been very prominent in Maltese politics and I think we should move away from this. If I am made leader I would not accept that kind of leadership."

Now that the EU membership issue has been decided, it has been stated by several Labour politicians that the party will work within the framework of membership. "However, one cannot now go into parliament and vote in favour of the Athens treaty. We cannot betray those that voted for the partnership option."

According to the PN there are 8,000 identifiable Labour supporters that voted for EU membership, but Montalto sees these as possibly changing their mind on the EU.

"I think these Labour supporters will change their approach depending on whether Malta experiences prosperity in the years to come."

Attard Montalto recently asked the MLP executive to meet to discuss Labour’s position on the EU, leading everyone to believe that he wanted his party to change its position but, eat your heart out EU supporters, Montalto was not looking for any dramatic changes.

"Having stated that the MLP would respect the election outcome with regards to the EU membership issue, I still believe that Malta should re-negotiate its clause on neutrality. I believe this is possible, if there is a joint effort of all the parliamentary representatives. I would like to see Malta’s neutrality not only respected, but guaranteed."

Attard Montalto believes the MLP is an electable party, but sees a new team as essential to its future success. "To win a majority we need changes in the way the Labour Party is perceived. The impression people have had so far was that projected by the Labour media.

"I believe the media should take a parallel approach to its audience, appealing both to core voters and also to a wider audience including floating voters. One of the strategic mistakes was the failure of the party to reach out to those that could have been converted."

The Labour media has come in for similar criticism from other party commentators, and one wonders whether a media change would be enough to make Labour electable.

"A shop can be the most wonderful in the world, but if the products are not easy to sell it will not attract clients. It is the same at a general elections.

"I am not convinced that all the core Labour voters feel at home with the party. That might sound paradoxical. Because of our performance in government we may have lost some of the core and we have to bring back all those Labourites that traditionally supported us. Labour has to also be more acceptable to the floating voter."

The devils advocate would be quick to point out that sending out different messages to different sectors of the population could be counter productive, but Montalto believes a successful strategy can work.

"It will depend on the ability of the leadership. A competent leader can appeal to people of diverse backgrounds."

With Alfred Sant at the helm Labour has lost two elections and a referendum and Montalto would rather see an entirely new leadership next time around.

"One of the big success stories of recent years was Labour’s win in 1996, and that win was achieved with a new and fresh leadership including of course, the leader but also the deputy leaders and perhaps others too, including, maybe, the main spokespersons. That approach should be adopted for the next election."

Dr Alfred Sant clashed with several Labour supporters during his tenure and this has resulted in much resentment from those that now feel they can no longer support the party. It has been suggested that Sant is dictatorial, but Montalto says these clashes occurred for a variety of reasons and that one cannot generalise.

"I have always been given the opportunity within the parliamentary group to express myself as I wish to, even though as time goes on I may have become less prudent.

I have never had any difficulties to express myself even if on occasions I have had to swim against the current."

"The leadership contest is all about giving opportunity for open discussion on all issues which need to be talked about."

During the recent meeting of the Labour Executive it was reported in the media that somebody wanted to physically attack Montalto, who while not denying the event, said he "would rather the incident were forgotten."

Not all at the Labour party is that what meets the eye, Montalto is hoping for change, but there is a long way to go before either of our large political parties become transparent.