Manuel Mallia to people in queue: “If you can’t afford business class like me, then you’ll have to wait.”

A member of my international worldwide network of spies tells me that he was in a long queue at the gate (not the check-in desk) at Munich airport for a flight to Malta via Frankfurt.

Suddenly Manuel Mallia turned up, accompanied by another Maltese man who my informant did not recognise, except to say that it wasn’t Silvio Scerri. Mallia was carrying a blue passport, but my informant could not make out whether it was a diplomatic passport or just a blue passport-jacket (he is the kind of person who would slip his passport into a jacket).

The two of them went straight to the gate, barging the entire queue of a planeload of people. There was a party of Swedes in that queue, and they began to protest loudly. My informant said to them: “He’s a Maltese politician.”

The Swedes protested even more loudly. Manuel Mallia turned to his companion and said to him in his loud, performance-in-the-courtroom voice: “Ghidilhom li jekk ma jistghux jaffordjaw business class, joqghodu jistennew.”

He did this in full knowledge that many of those in the queue were Maltese, and understood his insult. Those queuing included multi-millionaire Maltese businessman Joe Gasan.

What did Manuel Mallia say to his interviewer from The Sunday Times last week? Ah, yes:

Can he afford to throw away that brown suit?