Edwin Vassallo and Peter Micallef hit the ground running when Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil assigned them spokes­men roles soon after being sworn in as MPs.

But the immediacy with which the two new MPs were assigned roles jarred with the way the PN leader dealt with fellow MP Tony Abela last year.

PN MP Tony Abela says he asked not to be pigeon-holed.PN MP Tony Abela says he asked not to be pigeon-holed.

Mr Vassallo was last week appointed spokesman for manufacturing and cooperatives while Dr Micallef would focus on mental health. The two MPs had just been sworn in, taking up the seats awarded to the PN by the constitutional court last week.

However, in sharp contrast, Dr Abela, who was elected to Parliament in a casual election in November last year has no formal role until this very day.

At the time Malta Today reported that Dr Busuttil had asked the Rabat notary not to contest the casual election so the PN could co-opt an MP of its choosing. It was reported the PN leader wanted “a new face” and criminal lawyer Joe Giglio’s name had been floated.

I had asked Simon Busuttil to speak about what people in the street are feeling

However, Dr Abela pushed ahead and submitted his nomination to contest the casual election on the seventh district that was prompted by the resignation of former health minister Joe Cassar. He clinched the seat ahead of former MP Philip Mifsud.

Dr Cassar resigned amid claims that he received gifts from businessman Joe Gaffarena while he was minister.

When asked yesterday whether he had been assigned a role, Dr Abela first referred this newspaper to the PN leader and then said he had requested not to be pigeon-holed.

“I had asked Simon Busuttil to speak about what people in the street are feeling because my constituents face different problems to those in other districts and he gave it to me,” Dr Abela said.

The PN parliamentary group is structured in two tiers: nine shadow ministers, which include two MEPs, and the remaining MPs being assigned spokesperson roles within the various shadow portfolios.

Dr Abela is a popular notary in Rabat and was parliamentary secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister between 2003 and 2008, with responsibility for the army.

He was first elected in 1987 and again in 1996, 1998 and 2003. In 2008 he failed to make it to Parliament.

His son Sam, also a notary, was approved as a PN candidate in February this year.

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