Constitutional Party (Malta) - Opposition (1933-39)

Opposition (1933-39)

The suspension of the Constitution was to last three years. During this time a Royal Commission visited Malta and interviewed the parties concerned. In its final report the Commission sharply rebuked Strickland and recommended some changes to ameliorate Church-State relations.

The scene was set for elections in 1933. Technically, the prohibition for Catholics to vote Constitutional and Labour was still in place. Only on the eve of the election did Strickland ask for forgiveness and, although this was granted and the interdict lifted, it was too late to have much impact on the electoral result. The Constitutional Party gained 10 seats out of 32 (down from 15); its ally, the Labour Party, managed to elect only its leader Paul Boffa. Strickland was sworn in as Leader of the Opposition.

The Nationalists' stint in government was to be short lived. The following year, the constitution was again suspended when the government in its financial estimates increased funding for the teaching of Italian. With Mussolini's growing ambitions in the Mediterranean the Colonial authorities saw this as a threat on the domestic front and dismissed the government. Strickland argued that, as leader of the second largest party in the Assembly, he was supposed to be summoned and requested to try to form a government. The matter was the subject of a lengthy legal case which went all the way to the Privy Council. Strickland's plea was not upheld.