It is total ‘civil-war’ within the Nationalist Party. This ‘civil-war’ is being waged by the conservative faction led by the likes of Simon Mercieca, Mario Galea, Frank Portelli and Edwin Vassallo against the liberal faction led by the clique that still controls the party headquarters.

As if what Galea said about Simon Busuttil and how the conservative faction had not just been ignored but almost despised by Busuttil and his clique was not enough, we have now been regaled by an even more hitting bombardment on Busuttil and the clique by Mercieca, a regular and well-respected PN opinionist in the media, who had also been a member of the commission set up by Busuttil to draw up a report about the PN’s colossal defeat in 2013.

The most telling salvo in an article by Mercieca that appeared on The Malta Independent, in my view, was when he said that “the real tragedy is that Simon Busuttil is going to remain a backbencher and, thus, will continue to control the party”.

That is precisely what I said in my letter to the Times of Malta on August 9 (‘Blue albatross’) when I wrote that Busuttil, together with Marlene Farrugia, will be an albatross hanging around the PN and the new party leader’s neck.

Mercieca insisted that Busuttil should resign from Parliament, an opinion already expressed by Galea.

Mercieca did not mince his words when he opined: “The truth is that the PN is now appearing as possibly even more corrupt than that of Joseph Muscat. At least, Muscat has had the intelligence to admit his weaknesses.” In fact, Muscat always accepted that he and his government had made mistakes but never admitted that such mistakes were due to corruption, which he so strongly denied.

Mercieca also wrote thus: “I am starting to see more honesty in Joseph Muscat than in him [Busuttil].” Indeed, the big majority of Maltese and Gozitan voters had already noticed this in the previous legislature. That is why they confirmed Muscat as Prime Minister on June 3.

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