Ousted Labour deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia yesterday hinted that he been offered the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Dr Farrugia, who was seen exiting Castille following a 10-minute meeting with Dr Muscat yesterday afternoon, told The Times he would consider being made Speaker “if the post was officially offered to me”.

He declined to discuss the meeting in any greater detail, saying simply that he and Dr Muscat had discussed “national issues” before going on to add that “nothing has been confirmed from my end”.

Dr Farrugia is no stranger to the parliamentary speaker role, having presided over tumultuous 1998 Budget debates in which he was forced to use his casting vote following Dom Mintoff’s abstention.

The former PL deputy leader was forced out of the political scene last December, following public comments in which he implied that a magistrate had been politically biased in a judgment.

Those comments came just two days after Dr Farrugia had performed poorly in a debate against his then-counterpart, Nationalist Party deputy leader Simon Busuttil, on national television.

In a subsequent interview with The Sunday Times, Dr Farrugia likened his sudden sacking to “political assassination” and accused Dr Muscat of having metaphorically stabbed him in the back.

But despite the acrimony, Dr Muscat has made several conciliatory statements about his former colleague, telling the press that Dr Farrugia “still has an important role to play for both the party and the country” and expressing the hope that the two would work together in the future.

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