Keith Schembri + Adrian Hillman = assaults on Mario Demarco

The series of assaults on Mario Demarco that the Labour Party has planned to begin tonight break its decades-long tradition of never touching or criticising in any circumstances – on the contrary, actually defending – Guido Demarco and his offspring.

When Guido Demarco was alive they never touched him. They ripped Eddie Fenech Adami and everyone else in the Nationalist Party to shreds but they stayed off the subject of him. Whatever it was that created this situation seems to have been extended to his son Mario too and has survived his death by five and a half years. But now the gloves are off and the Labour Party is going in for the kill, readying itself to rip up the son of the man they themselves protected like one of their own.

Clearly, some kind of decision has been taken. And to me it’s equally clear that this decision bears a direct relation to the revelations about Adrian Hillman and his forced resignation from the position of managing director of the business which owns Progress Press, the Times of Malta and The Sunday Times. Those revelations uncovered the nature of Hillman’s corrupt relationship with Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.

Now that he is battling for a settlement from his employers – hence his visit to the law offices of Professor Ian Refalo this morning – Hillman’s loyalty to his lifelong friend Mario Demarco, whose father brought him in to the business as his chosen replacement, and to a certain extent his tool, for Ronnie Agius (at Allied Newspapers) and Wilfred Asciak (at Progress Press), has gone.

I would hazard a guess, and it’s probably accurate, that Hillman has spent the last couple of days spilling whatever beans he’s got on his old friend Mario Demarco to his financial lifeline Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.

Mario Demarco, who I know is deeply saddened and betrayed by the behaviour of the lifelong friend he trusted, had better watch out. Good friends who round on you to cover their own betrayal of you willingly do more harm than your old enemies – especially when, as it turns out, they were corrupt and unprincipled to begin with.

Adrian Hillman