Dom Mintoff yesterday lashed out at the Labour Party leadership, accusing it of throwing in the towel on the issue of EU membership "as soon as the election result was known".
The April 12 election, fought over membership of the European Union, gave Eddie Fenech Adami a 12,000 vote majority, humiliating the Labour Party.
The former prime minister, aged 86, also referred to the party leadership question. He was speaking to a small crowd during a Front Maltin Inqumu meeting at Cospicua last night.
He said he could not absorb the spectacle of the MLP leaders accepting EU membership as a foregone conclusion, as soon as it was known that the PN had won the election.
He said that even if the ratification of EU accession did go through parliament, where the electorate gave the Nationalist Party a five-seat majority, the Labour Party should continue with its struggle against membership - the Labour leadership, contrary to Mr Mintoff, holds the belief that the electorate's will, so clearly expressed, should be respected.
Mr Mintoff said that while it was clear that the Nationalist MPs would wholeheartedly vote in favour of ratification, there seemed to be individuals within the Labour Party who were having second thoughts about opposing it.
The Maltese should realise, he said, that the treaty signed by the government with the EU was illegal and against the constitution, because neutrality was not guaranteed.
Mr Mintoff did however welcome the declaration made by Dr Sant yesterday, in which Dr Sant said he did not intend to vote for ratification.
Still, Dr Sant's party leadership came under close scrutiny by Mr Mintoff, though the former Labour leader said there was nothing personal between them.
As often speaking obtusely, though not in a way as to be misunderstood, Mr Mintoff said it was not the first time that leaders "moved ahead, got tired, and gave their place to someone else".
This, he said, occurred all over the world. It happened twice in the Labour Party - the first in the 80s when he himself gave up the leadership. Likewise, he said, his immediate successor, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici was not removed from his post, but himself gave up the leadership in 1992.
He then added:
"I will stop here because I don't want people to think I'm attacking someone. But there is no other way to go forward if we want to save Malta and the Labour Party."
Hinting that a split was not impossible, Mr Mintoff said only God knew how long it would take to set up another party.
He said that instead of helping his Front Maltin Inqumu in its cause, the Labour Party had put spokes in its wheels. He did not elaborate. Mr Mintoff described the MLP as a party in difficulty, where different individuals felt they could run it better than others.
"I am sorry to say that three quarters of the trouble was triggered off by the man running the party because he changed his tune from one day to the next," Mr Mintoff said, in obvious reference to Dr Sant.
He equally lambasted the PN and went on to call on those Nationalists who felt fooled about EU membership to urge their party to put its house in order.