In his comment Presidential Running Mates (April 30) former Labour minister Joe Grima endorsed a proposal first floated by Lino Spiteri, another former Labour minister, to have Joseph Muscat running as George Abela's deputy in the current Labour leadership election. To sustain his position, Dr Grima argued that such a ticket would attract back disgruntled Labour voters and went on to jot down the now stale spin of Mr Muscat's closeness to Alfred Sant and his young age as his liabilities "to give them (Labour supporters) the comfort of being they need and will follow and support".
On the contrary, I believe Dr Muscat is the person Labour needs if it wants to reform, rejuvenate and become re-electable.
Mr Grima gave some figures about the number of Labour voters who voted yes in the 2003 EU Referendum and went on to vote for the Nationalists in the following election. He also mentioned the 28,000 voters who stayed at home last March. Mr Grima forgot to mention the majority of the 38,000 first-time voters who voted the Nationalists back in office. Dr Muscat stands out among the other candidates in Labour's leadership race as the one with the best credentials to attract new young voters to Labour in the 2013 election.
The spin and speculation about Dr Muscat being too close to Dr Sant vanishes into thin air when we consider the positions held by the other candidates.
• Dr Abela was Dr Sant's deputy leader for party affairs for six years, between 1992 and 1998.
• Michael Falzon was elected Dr Sant's deputy leader for party affairs in 2003 and still holds that office
• Evarist Bartolo was Minsiter for Education in Prime Minister Sant's Cabinet between 1996 and 1998, party spokesman for tourism and opposition front-bencher from 1998 to date.
• Marie Louise Coleiro Preca has been Labour's opposition front bencher and spokesman on social policy since her first election to Parliament in 1998.
I leave it to the readers to calculate Dr Muscat's alleged closeness to Dr Sant when compared to that of the other leadership contenders listed above. Mr Grima also brought in Mr Muscat's age to sustain the argument that he should wait five or 10 years to mature enough politically.
Apart from the arrogance of this gratuitous advice, Mr Grima seems to be oblivious to the success stories of other politicians who made a mark on national and international politics.
Tony Blair became Labour's leader at 41. He swept to a landslide election victory in 1997, becoming, at 43, the youngest prime minister in nearly 200 years. Spain's longest serving Prime Minister, Felipe Gonzales was 32 when he became secretary general of the Spanish Socialist Party. He was 40 when he was elected Prime Minister in 1982 and served four successive mandates until 1986.
In 1924, Sir Ugo Mifsud became the youngest Prime Minister in the British Empire. He was 35.
My opinion that Dr Muscat is Labour's best choice for the future is based on these facts. But, above all, he is a young politician with no baggage and he is embarking on a new mission with a clean slate untarnished by past quarrels, disagreements or rancour.