The resignation that would never happen in Malta

The Deputy Prime Minister just resigned, simply for failing to seek professional tax advice over how much stamp duty to pay on the purchase of a property.

Of course, we’re not talking about Malta’s Deputy Prime Minister here.  That would never happen in Labour’s Malta.  This was Angela Rayner, the UK Deputy Prime Minister.  She didn’t just resign from her role.  She also stepped down as Housing Secretary and as Labour Party Deputy Leader.

Rayner has a son with disabilities.  After divorcing her husband, a Trust was set up to provide for her son.  Rayner sold her 25% share in the marital home to the Trust and bought another property for herself.  She paid stamp duty.  But since her son is not yet 18, she still has an interest in her previous property. Technically, the new property was her second, not her primary home, and, therefore, she should have paid a higher stamp duty.

When that information was made public, Rayner was accused of underpaying stamp duty. She did not try to hide it.  She gave a detailed, honest explanation of what happened. She did not wait for Arnold Cassola to refer her to the Standards Commissioner.  Rayner referred herself to the ethics adviser.

Ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus, didn’t take a year to investigate her.  He concluded his report within two days after he’d been given total access to all the documentation by Rayner, including the legal advice she had been given that her newly acquired property could be registered as her primary home for tax purposes.

He didn’t beat around the bush. He didn’t attempt to justify her actions. Magnus wrote to Prime Minister Keir Starmer informing him that Rayner “provided full and open cooperation in assisting me with my inquiries”.

She even waived the confidentiality on her family’s domestic financial circumstances.  The ethics adviser concluded that Rayner paid the lower rate of stamp duty in line with legal advice she was given twice, in writing.

However, that advice wasn’t expert tax advice.  He concluded this was a genuine mistake and that Rayner’s understanding was that she was paying the right amount of stamp duty, an understanding “I consider to have been held in good faith”.

He explained to the Prime Minister that if tax advice had been sought, Rayner would have been told to pay the higher stamp duty.  “Rayner deeply regrets the mistake she has made,” Sir Magnus wrote, “she has sought quickly to correct the mistake”.

Yet he still concluded that “she cannot be considered to have met the highest possible standards of proper conduct” as envisaged by the (ministerial) code.  “I consider the code to have been breached”.

Rayner had no choice but to resign.  In her resignation letter, she didn’t disparage the ethics adviser.  She didn’t try and lecture him about ethics.  She didn’t stamp her feet and refuse to apologise.  She accepted: “I did not meet the highest standards… I take full responsibility for this error”. That was it. She resigned from all her roles.

Prime Minister Starmer didn’t try and fudge the issue.  He didn’t attack the ethics adviser.  He thanked Rayner for her work, adding, “I believe you have reached the right decision,” and accepted her resignation.

Rayner’s resignation and Starmer’s reaction highlight the pathetic situation on that different planet, Malta.  Here, political leaders are not held to “the highest standards” but the basest.

The Standards Commissioner practically condones any behaviour except the borderline criminal.  His investigations take months, and his reports are an exercise in obfuscation and moral ambiguity.  In those cases where the code is found to have been breached, he quickly closes the case even after half-hearted apologies, like Silvio Schembri’s.

The dafter and the more brazen even refuse him even that half-hearted apology.  Education Minister Clifton Grima was found to have breached the ministerial code by appearing prominently in a sponsored video promoting the new Msida Primary School.  Grima appeared 11 times in a 46-second clip.

The Commissioner found Grima breached several clauses of the ministerial code.  Grima didn’t resign. He was just asked to offer a formal apology.  The arrogant Grima refused.

Minister Chris Bonett also breached the ministerial code when he used the DOI to issue a partisan political statement making unsubstantiated allegations against two Opposition MPs. He not only refused to apologise but hectored the Commissioner about ethics. He engaged in a public spat with the Commissioner, challenging his ruling, saying, “I cannot agree with the conclusions”.

In a normal country, the Prime Minister would have intervened, compelling his ministers to show respect and apologise unreservedly. He would have insisted they also commit not to repeat the offence, and failing that, would have sacked them.

But the Prime Minister is Robert Abela.  He set the example of publicly disrespecting the Commissioner.  In March 2024, Abela himself breached the ministerial code on various counts by airing a propaganda video on social media funded by taxpayers. Abela refused to apologise and instead blamed his staff. He took no responsibility for his breach and defied the Commissioner publicly.

Just a few months later, in May 2025, Abela was again found to have breached the code by using public funds to publish another propagandistic video featuring himself. The Commissioner asked Abela to apologise.  Again, Abela refused.

What’s even more depressing is that Abela’s example is followed not only by his cabinet ministers but by the newly installed PN leader, Alex Borg. Borg was found guilty of breaching ethics when he made false statements about Fort Chambray.  He too defied the Commissioner and refused to apologise. That should have disqualified him from contesting the leadership contest. Instead, he’s the Opposition Leader.

Angela Rayner’s case is a sad reminder of the appalling normalisation of political abuse in this country.  It shows us in stark detail how far Labour has dragged us from civilised democracies.

It demonstrates one tragic reality – with Abela in power, standards couldn’t possibly get any worse. Now that Borg is PN leader, he should take the opportunity to rethink his foot stamping, apologise for his breach and show the nation he’s truly different from the pugnacious baby, Robert Abela.