Chris Said has doubled down on his message that the Nationalist Party runs the risk of becoming a Labour Party "clone", hours after his leadership rival Adrian Delia dismissed such talk as "scaremongering." 

In a statement issued this afternoon, Dr Said told party members that he had no skeletons in his cupboard and refused to play to the gallery with populist talk. 

The political veteran took an oblique dig at his rival Dr Delia, saying that "some see politics as a show and politicians as actors on a stage," and admitted that he could not claim to be a new face.

READ: No 'Labour Mark 2' under me, says Delia

He then went on to urge the 22,000 PN members to take a long view of things. 

"My political experience teaches me that the lustre of new things quickly fades, and then it's your work that matters," Dr Said warned, in an indirect reference to Dr Delia and his campaign motto "A new way". 

Sweep out the old - and then what?

Dr Said stuck with that theme, acknowledging that after two consecutive electoral defeats there was a temptation to clean out the PN stables and start anew. 

"But what will we build on after that? And what will we discard? If we ditch our identity we'll become a Labour photocopy, and who would choose a photocopy when they can opt for the original?" 

PN members will go to the polls on September 16 to decide whether Dr Said or Dr Delia should succeed Simon Busuttil as party leader.