Background
Isola was born in Gibraltar in 1929, and was educated at Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit independent school in Lancashire, and Pembroke College, Oxford, where he read Law.
Isola was born in Gibraltar in 1929, and was educated at Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit independent school in Lancashire, and Pembroke College, Oxford, where he read Law.
Pembroke College, Oxford University (Honours Degree in Jurisprudence, Council of Legal Education). Member, Gibraltar Legislature Council, 1956-1969. Member, 1969-1983 and Leader of Opposition, 1964-1967 and 1978-1983, Gibraltar House of Assembly.
Minister of Education, 1967-1968.
Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, 1977. Order of British Empire, 1966.
Spoken languages: English and Spanish.
He succeeded Maurice Xiberras as leader of the Democratic Party for a British Gibraltar (DPBG). He remained in the House of Assembly until 1983, and twice served as Leader of the Opposition, first as an Independent, and later as leader of the DPBG. Both leaders returned to a large public welcome. In 1965, at the height of the Spain"s offensive at the United Nations, and as Leader of the Opposition, Isola decided to enter into a coalition Government, serving as Deputy Chief Minister, with Joshua Hassan going on as Chief Minister.
He then retired from politics to concentrate on his substantial legal practice, heading the legal firm of Isola & Isola (now called Isolas).
Upon the creation of the Gibraltar Medallion of Honour in 2008, Peter Isola was posthumously awarded the Medallion and was therefore recorded in the Gibraltar Roll of Honour.
Isola had an early political success in an election to the Gibraltar Legislative Council in 1956, when ten candidates contested seven seats. The winners were Joshua Hassan, Abraham Serfaty, J. East. Alcantara, and Albert Risso, all of the Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights, one Commonwealth Party candidate, Joseph Triay, and two Independents, Isola and Solomon Seruya.
He was one of the members of the Constitutional Conference chaired by Lord shepherd in 1968 which drafted the Gibraltar Constitution of 1969. He was also a member of the constitutional advisory committee.