Labour MP Evarist Bartolo confirms his intention to be a candidate in the MLP leadership election in an interview with The Sunday Times today, and says that in 2003 he had told Alfred Sant not to stay on after the party lost that year’s general election.

Dr Sant had initially resigned but then reconsidered, announcing in a May 1 message that surprised many that he would be contesting the leadership race against Anglu Farrugia and John Attard Montalto.

Mr Bartolo had considered putting his name on the ballot for the 2003 leadership election but decided against when Dr Sant decided to stay on.

“Should I have done that? I think I’m still paying the price for it,” he says now, looking back on events five years ago.

“The fact that he stayed on obviously prevented the party from learning all the lessons and moving on, but the way things happened and the kind of people who contested the leadership in 2003... I personally thought he was still the best person...” he continues, adding when pressed on whether he now thinks Dr Sant should have gone: “That is what I told him in person, privately obviously”.

He is now confirming that he will be running for the top job in the June 5 contest, adding his name officially to that of MEP Joseph Muscat and the party’s deputy leader for party affairs Michael Falzon, who announced he was contesting yesterday.

More names are being floated, such as those of the former deputy leader George Abela, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca and Anglu Farrugia.

In the interview Mr Bartolo also discusses the MLP’s latest election defeat and the need for change within the party.

Mr Bartolo has been an MP since 1992 and was the Minister of Education in the 22-month Sant government. In opposition, he was shadow minister for education, European affairs and, more recently, tourism.