Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning that former deputy leader Anglu Farrugia was still 'very relevant' to the PL and he could, if he wished, contest the next election.

Dr Farrugia resigned from PL deputy leader yesterday.

His resignation seems to have been forced on him after an article in The Times about his speech on Sunday revealed the name of a magistrate he accused of political bias.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli had acquitted a man of vote rigging in the March 2008 election. Her judgment was overturned by an Appeals Court, which found the restaurateur in question guilty of threatening to sack one of his employees if she did not vote for the Nationalist Party. The restaurateur was fined €800.

In his two-page resignation letter (see pdf link below), which Dr Farrugia has now made public, he says that he has lost confidence in Dr Muscat.

He says his speech on Sunday had been well received by Dr Muscat and also the public but following the article in The Times which revealed the magistrate’s name, Dr Muscat contacted him abroad, where he was on a brief his holiday with his family and asked him to resign.

In his letter, Dr Farrugia tells Dr Muscat he felt he should resign as it did not seem that Dr Muscat had understood anything of what he wanted to say.

He also said he did not feel he should contest the next election but would remain an honest and true follower of the party.

Asked by timesofmalta.com about Dr Farrugia's statement that he (Dr Farrugia) had lost confidence in him, Dr Muscat said he understood that Dr Farrugia was hurt but he wanted to assure him that he was still relevant.

The PL's door, he said, remained open to Dr Farrugia and if he wanted, he was welcome to contest the next election.

In a clear jibe about how the PN handled Franco Debono, Dr Muscat said that he still considered Dr Farrugia as “a very relevant person” and “the Labour party’s door will always remain open to him”.

“If Farrugia wants to contest the next election the door is always open to him,” he said.

On who will take Dr Farrugia vacant post, Dr Muscat said that in the coming hours the party will show that it is able to make a good choice which will ensure a real change in the country’s direction.

Dr Farrugia's resignation letter can be read in the pdf link below.