A Facebook post by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo is being interpreted as a veiled reference on what should be done and what should not be done over the current controversy involving Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and the prime minister's chief of staff, Keith Schembri.

Mr Bartolo wrote yesterday: "When there is a storm, see how to seek shelter. Do not try to deceive yourself by blaming the barometer, or by tampering with it to think it is fine weather."

Mr Bartolo penned another post reflecting Labour unease on March 1. 

On his timeline, Mr Bartolo posted a quote by Ġużè Ellul Mercer, a prolific leftist writer and once party deputy leader, from an article penned in 1929 titled ‘Why I militate in the Workers’ Party’.

“On days like these, I recall Ġużè Ellul Mercer’s words,” Mr Bartolo wrote in the post, which was interpreted by Labour insiders as a direct dig at the Panama affair.

Those words resonated with the feelings of many grassroots Labourites, who were feeling “extremely uncomfortable” with what has happened, according to sources close to the Labour Party.

The quoted excerpt describes Mr Ellul Mercer’s reasons for joining a fledgling Labour Party at the time. The more significant extract speaks of the party’s higher ideal: “I am in the Workers’ Party because this party is not built on the weak foundations of its leader’s skills but on a higher ideal – the belief that who is born human, should live as human, work as human and eat as human, irrespective of whether he is born to a rich or poor family.” 

MUSCAT COMMENT

On Sunday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said Labour needed to heed genuine people who asked questions and felt disappointed, but the government had nothing to be ashamed of.