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14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MAY 2018 NEWS JOSEPH Muscat was elected leader of the Labour Party on the promise of creating a "new political season" and a "genera- tion of winners". On both counts he managed to fulfil what he set out to do and 10 years later, a new book attempts to outline Muscat's brand of politics through the eyes of friends and critics. Released by SKS, the Labour Party's publishing arm, the book includes two lengthy in- terviews with Muscat and his wife Michelle. The answers Muscat gives – which the publisher says are unedited – to interviewer Andrew Azzopardi, lend cre- dence to some of the analysis provided by other contribu- tors. Muscat's upbringing in a mixed political family – he describes his maternal grand- mother as an ultra-conserva- tive of the "casa-chiesa" type and his paternal nanna as a Mintoffian who recounted the stories of the turbulent 1960s – provides an explana- tion for the man's ability to balance between poles. "They were two completely different characters, who used to get along well togeth- er… they loved each other," Muscat tells his interviewer. This ability to mediate ten- sion defines the Muscatian philosophy and is translated by US-based Maltese aca- demic John Baldacchino as "hybrid politics". The political gambler In a provocative analysis, Bal- dacchino defines Muscat as "a political gambler". The academic identifies the tensions the Labour leader man- aged to reconcile since 2008, to change his party and the coun- try. "His achievements as a leader of the PL, the political transfor- mation he achieved since 2013, are without any precedent in the story of modern-day politics in Malta," Baldacchino writes. But he also asks whether this is just a phase in the PL's long history, or the foundations of a new cen- trist direction for the socialist party of Dom Mintoff. Muscat's decision to change the party's name soon after be- coming leader – from Malta La- bour Party to Partit Laburista – was intended to close the "MLP chapter", without denying the party's historical roots, Baldac- chino argues. This happened at the same time that Muscat publicly apol- ogised on a number of occasions for the violence of the 1980s, while reaching out to Labour- ites, who felt estranged by the division created by the Sant- Mintoff feud between 1996 and 1998. Eddie's Nationalists But Muscat was not only hap- py with luring back the party grassroots, Baldacchino says. "He wanted to attract Eddie's Nationalists. These formed a constituency that nobody ever believed would one day go from shouting 'Eddie! Eddie!' to 'Jo- seph! Joseph!'." And he continues to highlight the tensions Muscat managed to reconcile in a delicate balancing act that widened the party's ap- peal. Muscat placed the party at the centre of European politics, even if he assiduously opposed EU membership; he drew Na- tionalists to his pro-business, middle class-friendly politics while being accused of favourit- ism with Labourites. Muscat's self-declared rightist views on the economy, swept the carpet from beneath the Nationalist Party, Baldacchino says. His unreserved champion- ing of the free market, turned the previous ideological split on the government's role in the economy into who could be the better manager. In his interview, Muscat de- fines this as part of his "leftist strategy" to create wealth that can be re-distributed. He admits, more has to be done to help the elderly. "This is a sector where we have not yet progressed far enough," Muscat says. It is one of the critical as- pects raised in the book by left- ist philosopher Michael Grech, who provides a snapshot of the social failings of Muscat's party. Business and equality Muscat is undeterred in his vision of a party that embraces the free market and business. "I believed and still do that peo- ple are sensible. When you tell them, 'I will increase pensions and the minimum wage', they will ask you 'who is going to pay for these?' This is why we want- ed to convince everyone that we are capable of creating wealth. This explains our emphasis on business." Muscat insists his PL is one that went back to its historical roots. The party was born to champion equality, Muscat ar- gues, defining the politico-reli- gious battle of the 1960s as one for equality and not against the church. The Labour government's drive to introduce progressive legislation that ensured full equality for the LGBTI com- munity, and Muscat's gradual change in position on gay mar- riage and child adoption by same-sex couples, are under- scored by gay rights advocate Gabi Calleja. She recounts the disappoint- ment on hearing Muscat, in one of his first interviews on Xarabank shortly after be- coming PL leader, agree with civil unions but not marriage Muscat's decade: How Eddie's Nationalists ended up shouting 'Joseph! Joseph!' A new book commemorating Joseph Muscat's 10 years at Labour's helm outlines the change he brought to his party, the country and the political landscape. Part-hagiography, part-critical analysis, the book also contains a lengthy interview with the Prime Minister. KURT SANSONE got a preview KURT SANSONE Top: Dom Mintoff gives Muscat his 'blessing', and below, Muscat and his entourage of advisors (from left: Mario Cutajar, James Piscopo, Kurt Farrugia, Louis Grech and Abdul Zmirli) during the December 2016 hijacking of a Libyan airplane

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