From PN-leaning columnist to Labour adviser, is Marisa Micallef's new job just a career move or a public vote of no confidence in the government? Christian Peregin speaks to some commentators and politicians to see what impact this will have on the two big political parties.

She was once a PN golden girl, appointed to run the Housing Authority but her new job is to help the people she used to lash out at and elect the party she once described as "unelectable".

Everyone seems to have a different take on her defection but the one thing everyone agrees upon is the fact that she will have a tough time to convince diehard Labourites of her loyalty, at least in the beginning.

No one knows the feeling more than Labour MP Marlene Pullicino who already switched political allegiance twice in her life.

Although she came from a staunchly Labourite family, she had become disillusioned with the party's violent past and its opposition to EU accession, so she switched to Eddie Fenech Adami's Nationalist Party. After an unsuccessful election attempt on the PN ticket, she then went back to Labour last year and got elected to Parliament.

"My reaction is welcome, welcome, welcome! She has a lot to give and our party should help to integrate her, even though it will not be easy," Dr Pullicino said.

She pointed out, however, that Ms Micallef is a paid employee, not working voluntarily, so this could simply be a career move. In which case, the party needed to be careful.

Still, she said: "This is no big loss for the PN. It's just part of a natural process. Parties evolve."

Like Ms Micallef, columnist Kenneth Zammit Tabona used to be seen as an enemy of the PL but since the departure of Alfred Sant he too seems to have become disillusioned by the PN.

He explained Ms Micallef's move by comparing the two parties.

"What the PL represents today is very much the equivalent of what the PN represented in 1987: a lifeline. In those days it was political anarchy, today it is political ineptitude and a soft despotism by people who have clung on to power for too long," he said.

He described the PN as a party that is cracking to bits because of "one cockeyed decision after the other" and many pre-electoral "pie-in-the-sky" promises up in smoke.

"Joseph Muscat has a winning ticket. Let's hope he will use it well. He is now being given all the time in the world to consolidate a broken and demoralised PL while the PN sink further into a mediocre quagmire of intrigue and ineptitude," he said.

Philosopher Fr Peter Serracino Inglott, for years an adviser to former Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami, was not so impressed.

"I don't think she represents anyone but herself, so I don't think this has very much significance. Quite frankly, if she is going to be doing PR, as someone who is not fluent in Maltese, she does not seem to be such a big catch," he said.

"She's a very attractive person and I used to agree with her a lot. But I don't think her new role will have any, not even a ripple, effect."

"Dr Muscat is trying to attract progressives and she is someone they can relate to; she fits the description. Dr Muscat hopes this will do the trick but I have my doubts," Fr Serracino Inglott said.

He pointed out that Dr Muscat would have a difficult time to reassure old-timers of her party loyalty and this was clearly visible in his speech last Sunday where he felt the need to remind hardcore Labourites that they would never be forgotten.

Nationalist back-bencher Robert Arrigo, who is known for being very critical of his own party, said Ms Micallef's move is "a sign that needs to be read carefully".

When asked whether Ms Micallef's decision was symbolic of the prevailing mood in Sliema (their common hometown), he admitted that he had felt a sense of "negativity" in the district.

He said losing someone was always a big deal. "Everyone is important. That's the feeling I get when I speak to people. They're not saying she is a traitor. They're saying, let's be careful."

He added that the June MEP elections showed that party loyalty was not as strong as it used to be.

Asked whether it made sense to employ someone who has been so critical of the party in the past, he said he had often criticised his own party but only when he felt it was his obligation to do so.

"Yes, there were consequences. You have to live with them. But it's very important for a party to be open to constructive criticism. The Labour Party is undergoing a change and this is probably thanks to someone who criticised it a year ago."

Patrons at Labour clubs were also undecided.

A man at the Luqa PL club said: "It's a good sign she's moving over; it shows that Labour is becoming more unified. Her defection is clearly a reaction to the way the government is moving.

"More people should follow her lead but in politics most tend to do only what is right for them".

Many others, however, did not even know who she was.

Dr Sant could not be reached yesterday former PN secretary general Joe Saliba said he preferred not to comment because he was no longer involved in politics.

Ms Micallef also would not comment yesterday.