He's back: Chris Fearne returns to Cabinet after two years
The paediatric surgeon was first elected to parliament in 2013
Chris Fearne is back on the government’s top table, two years and a few days after he resigned following his arraignment in connection with the Vitals hospitals case.
The former deputy prime minister and minister of health has been assigned ministerial responsibility for foreign and European affairs by Prime Minister Robert Abela on the back of his election from two districts, where he led the Labour ballot.
Fearne had lost to Abela in the Labour leadership contest in January 2020 but then distinguished himself as the country battled the COVID epidemic later that year.
In 2024, he asked not to be considered Malta’s nominee to become European Commissioner in 2024 after he became the only serving member of the Cabinet to be arraigned in connection with the Vitals case on fraud-related charges.
He spurned pleas by Abela to reconsider his decision, with Abela repeatedly praising him for his integrity and expressing confidence in him.
In court, while pleading not guilty, he testified how he was sidelined in the government’s talks with Vitals/Steward while Joseph Muscat was prime minister, and decisions were taken behind his back.
“Things were happening which I did not know about,” he said.
After Abela became prime minister, he said he insisted that Steward Healthcare, which had taken over from Vitals, observe its contractual obligations. He had said he was made the target of an international attempt at character assassination, with a Pakistani newspaper even falsely claiming that one of his aides was given bribery payments.
Times of Malta had revealed that Fearne had been targeted by a Steward-funded smear campaign which tried to plant fake corruption claims against the then-health minister. He subsequently sought and was granted protection by parliament.
From the OR to the Cabinet Room
Fearne, a paediatric surgeon, was first elected to parliament in 2013 and was appointed to the Cabinet by Joseph Muscat in 2014 as parliamentary secretary for health under Minister Konrad Mizzi.
He became Minister for Health in April 2016.
He became deputy leader of the Labour Party in July 2017, succeeding Louis Grech, and also resigned from that post in 2024.