Veteran broadcaster Norman Hamilton said today that he had resigned from his role as consultant to PBS CEO Anton Attard on the Eurovision Song Contest.

He said on One TV that his resignation was immediate and irrevocable.

This was the second year that Mr Hamilton, who presents a programme on One TV, had served as consultant to Mr Attard. At his request, he was working without remuneration.

Mr Hamilton said that last October Mr Attard invited him to be his consultant for the second year and, Mr Hamilton said, since they worked well last year, he accepted.

However he had stepped down because of lack of respect which, he said, was evidenced by, among other things, the fact that he was not consulted on the appointment of the juries for the two preliminary rounds of the contest in Malta. Names he proposed for the final round were not included.

He said there were also other issues. He disagreed with the decision that a singer in the team of Maltese Eurovision singer Kurt Calleja had been replaced by another person who had nothing to do with the winning song, and he was protesting over tight restrictions on what One TV could feature on the Eurovision Song Contest.

He was also protesting the fact that there had been no protest by Malta over the way how the authorities in Baku - where the Eurovision Song Contest will be held - were shooting stray dogs.

Mr Hamilton said meeting with Mr Attard had been few and far between - possibly three meetings apart from the festival days.

He said he would not attend the Eurovision Song Contest this year and might now even watch the semi-finals because he would be away and may not have media access.

PBS CEO REACTS

In a reaction Mr Attard said he was very surprised that Mr Hamilton had sent him a 'private and confidential' letter and then he had gone to the Labour Party station to talk about it. This itself clearly showed his intentions, he said.

He said he had engaged Mr Hamilton as a consultant. Consultant in his dictionary meant to consult, and do not to dictate. Mr Hamilton expected him to consult him before PBS sent a legal letter to OneTV for using exclusive content. This was a clear conflict of interest that made his position untenable.

"Unfortunately partisan politics has clouded Mr Hamilton's judgment in a number of ways," Mr Attard said.