Justice Minister hired Muscat’s spin doctor as media law fallout grew

Justice Minister Jonathan Attard engaged one of disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s spin doctors for writing speeches and press releases last November, just when local and international fallout from the media law he unsuccessfully attempted to rush through parliament was at its worst.

The Shift has confirmed through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request that Leslie Skipper, a former British journalist who worked with the Labour Party on its return to power in 2013, has been engaged with Justice Minister Jonathan Attard since last November.

At the time, Attard was feeling the heat from local journalists and international bodies such as the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and several international press freedom organisations over the weak and rushed media legislation.

According to his latest engagement contract obtained by The Shift, Skipper has been assisting Attard with writing speeches and press releases since then at a rate of €50 an hour.

Skipper’s contract also specifies that he needs to coordinate the writing of press releases with the ministry’s official spokesperson, John Luke Ellul, a former president of Labour’s student organisation Pulse and who Attard employs as a person of trust.

While it is in Ellul’s job description to write press releases, Attard nevertheless felt the need to bring in the hired gun as a consultant to help his official spokesperson.

Skipper, a former journalist who worked for the BBC and ITV, entered the Maltese political fray a few months before the 2013 general elections when he was hired to help with the Labour Party’s communications drive.

Soon after Muscat was installed at Castille, the Office of the Prime Minister engaged him to work alongside its spokesperson Kurt Farrugia and placed him on a €44,000-a-year contract.

Skipper was also providing his services to other government agencies, including MITA and Malta Enterprise.

He had also been included in a PBS delegation for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest when no effort was spared for Ira Losco’s much-hyped yet unsuccessful bid to bring a Eurovision trophy home to Malta for the first time.

Following Muscat’s resignation in January 2020, his former spokesperson Kurt Farrugia, who was placed on a €180,000-a-year contract as Malta Enterprise CEO just a few weeks before Muscat stepped down, also engaged Skipper as a technical adviser on communication matters in his new role.