Maxwell Monaghan

The Right Honourable Sir Maxwell Monaghan MP Bt
Prime Minister of Kiribati-Tarawa
In office 17 March 1988 – 7 July 1993
Monarch	Victor Emmanuel I Umberto IV
Deputy	Eain McDowell
Preceded by	Reginald Spicer
Succeeded by	Iain McDowell
Leader of the Labour Party
In office 4 April 1984 – 7 July 1993
Preceded by	George Forewell
Succeeded by	Aneurin Stratham
Leader of the Opposition
In office 4 April 1984 – 17 March 1988
Preceded by	George Forewell
Succeeded by	Andre Torre
Member of Parliament for Stafford and Oxcross
In office 2 May 1969 – 17 May 1998
Preceded by	Charles Forthwright
Succeeded by	Alan Risby
Personal details
Born	Maxwell Stephen Douglas Monaghan 12 July 1917 Strathearn, County Dunway, Tarawa
Died	7 August 2008 (aged 91)
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Vera Jamison (m. 1965)
Alma mater	Galston College, Westminster
Religion	Church of Tarawa

Sir Maxwell Stephen Douglas Monaghan was a Tarawan Labour Party politician and former Prime Minister of Kiribati-Tarawa from 1988 to 1993). Elected as the Member of Parliament for Stafford and Oxcross in 1969, Monaghan rose through the ranks of the parliamentary Labour Party, eventually being chosen as leader of the party. He served as Leader of the Opposition and later Prime Minister following the Labour Party's victory in the 1988 general election.

His premiership is considered to be the apogee of Kiribati-Tarawan socialism and his highly controversial dismissal by King Victor Emmanuel I in 1993 at the height of an economic crisis triggered a constitutional crisis which threatened to terminate the Kiribatian monarchy. His legacy remains powerful within the Labour Party and Kiribatian socialist movement, as well as within the Tarawan nationalist movement, in which he is a venerated figure.