Facing the realities of power, Labour is passing through a curiously mixed period. To use a tired metaphor, some things are good, some not so good. The main bright part is the growth in the stature of Joseph Muscat as Prime Minister. His stature could not have been greater as a political leader when he recorded such a savage victory over Lawrence Gonzi’s Nationalist Party.

It’s not good enough that he walks tall. So must the Government

There had been signs of his organisational backing and ability. His access to the European Parliament was smooth and impressive for someone so young. His winning of the Labour Party leadership race was marked by all-out organisation, helping him beat no mean an opponent in George Abela.

We hadn’t seen anything yet. The organisation which he created and the electoral campaign it built up took not only the Nationalists’ breath away.

Few expected such a charge of energy, an explosion of dynamism. Muscat literally dismantled the Nationalist Party, exploiting its mistakes and omissions, but doing much more than that.

Once in office, the shine began to wear off somewhat, as it always does. Surprisingly, or maybe not surprising at all given Labour’s history, the media immediately targeted the Labour government, glorying in highlighting its every real or perceived mistake. Even clear boobies carried forward from the Nationalist administration, such as the public finances, were blamed on Labour.

The wholesale replacement appointments that have to be made whenever there is a change of government, especially after such a long time as that of the PN’s, attracted wholesale flak. Some of it was merited. Most was undiluted hypocrisy, given how Gonzi, with a hair-breadth’s majority in 2008, had stuffed every nook and cranny of the public sector with diehard Nationalists or fellow travellers.

Once the business of government started in earnest, there was an odd lull. The Prime Minister, obviously deliberately, held back a lot from the limelight, almost from view. Presumably he did so to allow his Cabinet to become better known to the public. In the process the media was again able to pick on a few slips and silliness and make a meal out of them.

The oddness really shone. The Prime Minister marched into the limelight with one big event after another. His standing grew. His stature matched his electoral victory. He became more mature.

So what was odd? Some of his colleagues, that’s what. They seemed unable to refrain from giving the media the opportunity to take them to task. Not so much with big things – there has been no petty or big scandal to report or speculate upon. If one were to put a reason to it, it is more political inexperience than anything else.

However, those slips did betray a fact worrying to Labour. Muscat’s organisational machinery had a clog in the wheels. It wasn’t functioning as it had done since he mounted the national political stage as an MEP and from there on to the peak of electoral victory.

And the media are not letting him forget it. One might say they’re overdoing it. I would put it differently – the media is doing Muscat a favour. It is reminding him he needs to take stock. It’s not good enough that he walks tall.

So must the Government.

Daily tests are there for assessment. Some better results are needed. More thought to the substance than to the photo opportunity.

One big test will soon be building up. Come May there will be the elections to the European Parliament. Nationalist leader Simon Busuttil has already set out his main objective in that regard – to win a third seat so that there will be equal representation by the parties. No doubt he has already started identifying good names as candidates. It has already been suggested that Gonzi might be one of them, following on the strong rumour that Alfred Sant will stand for Labour.

Peaks are reached to descend from. It is quite likely that Labour will do hardly as well in May as it did in March. That would be natural. But it should be something exercising Muscat’s immediate attention. He needs no one to tell him that. But some of his colleagues obviously do, unused as they might be to the snakes and ladders of politics.