It has been pointed out, and is now accepted, that the parliamentary PN is split down the middle, with the liberals led by Mario de Marco, and the traditionalists led by Beppe Fenech Adami. Effectively, Simon Busuttil has manoeuvred himself out of a job.

It would be very bad news for Maltese politics if the party were to split, as happened in the 1960s. The PN urgently needs to regain its position as the party of alternative government, ready at any moment to take over the reins should this government fall or not be re-elected.

This is a basic democratic necessity, for without it democracy fails. To achieve this goal as a credible alternative, the PN must adopt the fundamental philosophy and commitment to govern for all the people, not just the Roman Catholics. A friend of mine who disagrees with the concept of a secular society told me recently that “after all we are a Catholic country”. The fact is that we are not.

Those who place their religious beliefs above the law and the Constitution have no place in politics, certainly not in government, for the government is there for all the people. A religious state is unthinkable, and totally unacceptable.