Updated - Deputy Speaker Censu Galea last night twice called on Franco Debono to be careful about what he said about people who were not public officers as the Nationalist MP launched another fierce attack on Richard Cachia Caruana, Malta’s permanent representative to the EU.

In a 15-minute speech on the adjournment, Dr Debono lamented that despite the no confidence vote and the prime minister’s admission that mistakes had been made by the administration, no one had shouldered responsibility and resigned. Dr Debono said he was surprised that people were asking him what he was going to do in the next vote in Parliament. He said there were currently no votes in parliament and did not know when there would be. The people should ask House Business Committee chairman Carm Mifsud Bonnici or Mr Cachia Caruana.

He then launched a scathing personal attack on Mr Cachia Caruana, saying he was the mastermind of the St John's Co-Cathedral 'madness' and repeating a series of questions he had asked on facebook. He questioned how Mr Cachia Caruana acted ‘in the shadows’ and even questioning his upbringing and whether he was ‘obsessed’ with power. He asked if Mr Cachia Caruana was a team player, whether he tried to remove those whom he did not manage to control and whether he was a 'control freak'.

He asked if Mr Cachia Caruana was power hungry and an egosit.

He also asked under what authority he attended Cabinet meetings and whether he was the one who decided who should be in the Cabinet.

While he was accused of hogging the limelight, Dr Debono said, that was far better for the people than working from the shadows. The people who were asking questions about him should ask the same questions about others.

When the Speaker asked Dr Debono to be careful in what he said, Dr Debono replied that these questions had been asked in his regard as well as with regard to other MPs and his family, and he had a right to ask the same about Mr Cachia Caruana.

Dr Debono said it was not the person who carried a stabbing who was the most important, but the mastermind behind him. (This morning Dr Franco on facebook clarified that the pen is mightier than the sword, and masterminds who regularly order stabbing by the pen were more dangerous than those who executed the orders)

In his address Dr Debono also said he regretted that Pietru Pawl Busuttil had lost the mayorship in Safi. He said he recognised Mr Busuttil as a living shield of the people’s freedoms. He said he had been personally hurt by Mr Busuttil in the past weeks, but perhaps Mr Busuttil had himself realised his mistakes.

Nonetheless, Dr Debono said, he still regretted what had happened in the Safi election because Mr Busuttil had worked hard for the locality.