Montebello defends Mintoff biography: ‘I have no reason to lie’

The biographer of a now-controversial Dom Mintoff biography has defended his revelations on the intimate marital discord and infidelities by the late Labour premier.

Speaking from Peru where he is now based, the Dominican friar and philosopher Dr Mark Montebello insisted that all his findings are backed by sources and people he has interviewed over the last seven years.

The daughters of Mintoff however claim the biography is riddled with untruths, despite having first given Montebello the unabridged memoirs penned by Dom Mintoff himself, as well as conceded him interviews. The Labour Party is also choosing not to promote the publication, despite being published by its own arm, SKS.

“The family asked me to censor myself and I refused, because it is not according to my profession to do that,” Montebello told MaltaToday on Wednesday.

Dom Mintoff with his wife Moyra (left) after their marriage in Malta.

With a heavily footnoted text which references his direct sources in the book ‘The Tail That Wagged The Dog’, Montebello said he had “no reason to lie” about episodes which depict Mintoff as abusive, at least psychologically, of his wife Moyra, manifesting an irascible temper, and going as far as kicking her.

“All this was told to me by sources, including family members and confidants. If they are not foot-noted all the way it is because they form part of accounts which were already foot-noted earlier on.”

In various other parts of the biography, Montebello details in part Mintoff’s serial philandering, part and parcel of his absolute power at the helm of the Labour Party between 1949 and 1984 where he commanded the attention of female adulators.

He admits that in some cases, such as Lino Cassar’s claim to late minister Joe Grima that Mintoff had bedded the actress Charlotte Rampling while filming ‘Orca’ in Malta, these could have been part of Mintoffian myth-making. “I don’t take anyone’s word on its value. I always employed some form of triangulation. I did try to contact the offices of Rampling and Vanessa Redgrave for example, to no avail. So sometimes this triangulation was not possible and I had to make a jump... many times I did not jump because there was no triangulation.”

But Montebello insists many of the stories he has recounted were already known to Mintoff’s inner circle and that his job was to bring them out in the open.

A case in point is Mintoff’s affair with his sister-in-law, Astrid Mintoff, in a brief interlude during 1973 during which Mintoff’s wife Moyra had left him and went to the UK. Montebello insists his sources are family members; and that Mintoff aides like Joe Camilleri and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici confirmed the account and recounted to him that Times founder-editor Mabel Strickland hushed up a subsequent story where Mintoff had to be hospitalised after his brother Daniel severely injured him as retribution, by claiming the Labour leader had fallen off a horse while riding.

Montebello also said family sources told him that Mintoff would befriend British men in the air force or business circles, to then proceed to seduce their wives.

“I know this is the normal lifespan of a book: people are looking for the juicy parts. My advice to Mintoff’s daughters is not to panic, because the father is valued positively in this book. But it is also useless to try and take possession of history... it cannot always be nice.”

Montebello said his book sought to understand the psychological framework that underpinned Mintoff. “These are not just capricious events. We’re trying to understand a mind and a life here... and it makes sense, psychologically, that Mintoff sought to enjoy his spoils of his political victories. Certainly it is an accepted fact of political life that the pressure of the role begets a need for sexual play, and certain members of the family know this more than others.

“It doesn’t mean this one aspect explains everything about Mintoff. I think the daughters are panicking a bit... I would do the same probably.”

Montebello also said he had skimmed certain aspects of Mintoff’s life, such as details about his relationship with the corrupt, late Labour minister Lorry Sant, because he did not want to make the biography about other personalities.

“I’ve read hundreds of biographies and all deal with the personal lives of these people of power. I embarked on this book with respect to the Mintoff family and Mintoff. I researched and wrote this book with judiciousness.

“Mintoff had special qualities. But he also had human qualities, which people around him also knew about. If the children didn’t know about them... well, I’ve seen documents they did not see.”