Joseph Flores

Who was Joseph Flores?

Joseph Flores was a judge and politician from Malta.

Flores was born in 1907 in the Maltese town of Hamrun, close to the capital Valletta. Following school he enrolled at the University of Malta and began a course in the study of law. He used this to develop his career in the legal field, finally being appointed as a judge.

Flores was drawn to the political sphere, but an attempt to gain election during the 1932 Maltese national elections ended in failure. However, there was more success during the 1950s when he was elected for three successive terms, serving as a member of the Malta Labour Party in the period before independence from Great Britain. This was a period of turmoil for the Maltese left - a split between the MLP and the Maltese Workers Party led to the latter forming a coalition with the Nationalists. From 1949 until 1955, Flores served as Deputy Leader of the MLP in the Assembly. It was not until 1955 that the MLP finally formed the government under the leadership of Dom Mintoff. This legislature came to be dominated by the issue of integration with the United Kingdom.

Such was Flores' position within the dominant Labour grouping that he was appointed the Speaker of the Maltese Legislative Assembly that same year. He was later appointed Judge and thus he resigned as a member of the Legislative Assembly.