All change, as free trip MPs rush for the shade

Four MPs and a peer on an all-expenses-paid trip to sunny Malta made moves yesterday to change their relaxed itinerary and inject some facts into their fact-finding mission.

Following widespread criticism of the three-day visit after the Independent revealed that it involved little more than wining, dining and sightseeing, they arranged a hasty call on a trade fair and met two Maltese ministers not originally named in their detailed schedule.

Lady Olga Maitland, Tory MP for Sutton and Cheam, Gerald Kaufman, the former Shadow Foreign Secretary, Simon Coombs, Conservative MP for Swindon, Barry Sheerman, Labour MP for Huddersfield, and the Conservative Baroness Gloria Hooper were invited to the island by Air Malta, which is celebrating carrying its 10 millionth passenger.

After enjoying champagne in their pounds 538 Club Class seats on Friday, they checked in to the pounds 160-a-night five-star Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza where, within 20 minutes, Lady Olga and Barry Sheerman were sunbathing and swimming. But yesterday Lady Olga denied their trip was a "junket" and insisted she was in Malta "batting for Britain".

"To suggest that we're here on a freeloading trip would be a totally wrong interpretation," she said. "This trip has been set up to help and support Malta. Nearly 40 per cent of their entire income is dependent on tourism, which in turn is very much dependent on people coming from Britain." Challenged as to the use of the trip to her constituents, she said: "I think what my constituents would want to know is, is Britain trading satisfactorily overseas, are we doing our best to bat for Britain, and the answer is yes."

She thought the group would have little time to enjoy the sunshine as they were meeting "many, many representatives" of the Maltese government.

The parliamentarians' detailed itinerary, which named even the station manager who would meet them on arrival at Heathrow Airport on Friday and the Air Malta official who would board the flight, plus details of events hosted by Joseph Tabone, chief executive of the airline, made no mention of meeting government ministers.

However, after the Independent's interest on Friday, Air Malta officials announced that two ministers would meet the MPs, and yesterday they flew to the island of Gozo and lunch at the luxury Ta Cenc hotel with Gozo's minister, Anton Tabone, who is understood to be Joseph Tabone's cousin.

At a lavish reception in Valletta on Friday night, Ian Raitt, the airline's press officer, said efforts were also being made to find a "window" in which the MPs could travel to a trade fair in Naxxar.

The four MPs arrived at the International Trade Fair at 7.30pm, after giving staff at the British stand only a few hours notice. "First I heard they were coming was when I got a call from Martin Bianco [commercial officer of the fair] this afternoon," said Ben Bugeja, commercial assistant at the British Pavilion. "Until then, we weren't expecting them."

Among the exhibitors on a stand much smaller than its Italian and American competitors, were Rover, Samsung, Homepride, Harris paintbrushes, Littlewoods and Morphy Richards.

Joe Tabone told the Independent: "We don't expect anything in return from the MPs. It is simply a public relations exercise to thank them for their support."

The Maltese government, which owns Air Malta, is trying to drum up support for its application for membership to the European Union.

Mr Kaufman said: "They cannot expect anything from me whatever in any shape or form simply because they have paid for this. I have had an interest in Malta since I was shadow foreign secretary and I support its application to join the EU."

The MPs arrive back at Heathrow at 6.50pm this evening - in plenty of time to vote on Wednesday night for their proposed pounds 10,000-a-year pay rise.