Former Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando is considering a return to the hustings as a Labour Party candidate.

In comments to Times of Malta, Dr Pullicino Orlando said he felt honoured that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had asked him to stand as a Labour candidate in the June 3 general election.  

He said he was seriously considering the offer, but needed to decide with his family.

Dr Pullicino Orlando contested the general elections of 1996, 1998, 2003 and 2008 as a PN candidate and was always elected. In 2008 he was elected from two districts, despite being embroiled in the Mistra controversy. 

He said today that should he decide to contest, he will again stand on two districts.

Despite being a PN MP, Dr Pullicino Orlando on his own initiative and without the backing of the leadership, had moved a motion in parliament which eventually led to a referendum and the introduction of divorce in 2011.

He voted with the Labour Opposition in a motion which led to Richard Cachia Caruana resigning his post as Malta's ambassador to the EU. 

He then left the PN parliamentary group and stayed on as an independent MP in the dying months of the last PN government. 

In the run-up to the 2013 election, he backed Labour and Dr Muscat retained him in his post as chairman of the Malta Centre for Science and technology. He has since maintained his criticism of the Nationalist Party.