Taking Salvu Mallia on board says it all about Simon Busuttil. It represents his weak political leadership. It embodies his divisive approach for this country.

Mallia is given quite pointedly to hyperbole, isn’t he? And seems to be rather a bitter and impulsive man. At least, that is how I see him now, considering what he has been doing, and saying.

He voted Labour the last time round, he has said, now. He has no proof of that, of course, but let’s take him at his word. But he won’t vote Labour again, he vows, so he goes over to Marlene Farrugia, the former Labour MP, now independent and at the head of the new DP.

Why he went over to Farrugia is not clear but he realised within days that his choice was a mistake.

Insulting people is ok, so long as it’s a PN candidate doing the insulting and a Labour figure being insulted

Obviously, he had not thought out a strategy of how best to vent his bitterness. Which was rather a ridiculous mistake – to not have a strategy – seeing he has serious ambitions and thinks that with his silly facial grimaces and hand gestures he can make it to Parliament. But that would not be achieved with the DP, he realised quickly enough after joining it.

So Mallia made another switch. From the weak DP to the weakly-led Nationalist Party, which takes in everyone who may contribute some grist to the electoral mill, even if it is only something comical.

Mallia told his PN audience, when he was introduced by the PN leader as an election candidate, that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is the biggest disaster to hit Malta since the plague of 1813.

Hell, there were two world wars in the last century and the last war saw Malta bombed mercilessly by the Axis powers. Hundreds died and there was starvation.

Such an outrageous simile by Mallia might be taken by some as an example of finesse or exaggeration, rather than the offensively hurtful caricature it was, as proved by Mallia’s audience’s reaction – there were a giggle or two but also gasps.

But the insulting comparison found acceptance with the leader of the Opposition, who had introduced Mallia to the audience. Asked what he thought of Mallia comparing the Prime Minister to the plague, Busuttil said Mallia has a colourful way of expressing himself and, in the context in which the comparison was made, it was acceptable.

Busuttil was saying, of course, that Mallia knows no better – that’s his level, in other words – and that should kill Mallia’s prospects at the hustings.

Well, there you are. Insulting people is ok, so long as it’s a PN candidate doing the insulting and it is a Labour figure that is being insulted. No call for moderation there: Busuttil did not think the comparison cheapened the debate and the person who made it.

But there was repugnance in the country. Even Liliana Risiott, who is very familiar with the Pietà headquarters, expressed disbelief at the outrageously non-comical decisions taken by Busuttil.

Basically, how can anyone take him any serious any longer?

Glenn Bedingfield is a member of the Labour Party.