Much has been said about me, lately and I even thanked the Prime Minister in Parliament last Monday for taking such keen interest in me.

The day before, on Sunday, the Prime Minister, and his fellow travellers, labelled me as classist and elitist. He seemed to say I come from an affluent background and, therefore, I am out of touch with people’s needs/realties.

The Prime Minister had every right to say that but nothing is further from the truth. Now, I accept these political games because they do come with the job.

What I hate most is talking about myself and my background. Not because I have anything to be ashamed of (far from it) but because, as we all know, politics is not about us, politicians.

It’s about you, the people we represent, each with a different background, each treading a different path. Politics is, more than anything else, helping the most vulnerable get back on track so they too can give something back to society by sharing their experiences.

Notwithstanding this, it is not fair, either, to let all these untruths about me go unchallenged and, as the Prime Minister seemed to infer, our life experiences do help us understand people’s needs better.

Mine was a very normal life with a humble upbringing. I had wonderful parents and I feel super lucky to have had them as they gave us four siblings an excellent upbringing. They gave us a ‘handbook for life’, not by what they said but by how they lived.

The education we received from State schools in Gozo was beyond excellent and I’m so grateful for that. This is partly why I had uprooted my children from the European schools system in Brussels (I spent 10 years working there) to bring them up in Gozo.

This notwithstanding, I cannot say that mine is an affluent background. My mum was a housewife (previously a primary teacher) and my dad was a postman.

I can say that I have been successful in my career like many others but I cannot understand how a person like me, with such a normal upbringing, can have an elitist mindset, as the Prime Minister implied.

The Prime Minister seems to be saying that people coming from affluent backgrounds do not have a space in politics

I come from Ta’ Sannat, where just about everyone I know is a keen Labour supporter. Some of them actually helped me in my election campaign and voted for me.

So you see, Mr Prime Minister, my life was presumably similar to yours and to many, many, others.

Like everyone else, I passed through tough times. At one point, for example, my mum was dying of cancer while I was sitting for my university finals and my dad had been bed-ridden for almost 10 years at that point. It was really tough-going financially.

That was when my mum taught me the importance of staying positive in life and she did this from her deathbed in Boffa Hospital. Now, I know from the people I meet all the time that almost everyone passes through a difficult patch in life. Some even pass through two, three or four. It is my job now as a politician to give them comfort in some form or another.

The thing I love most about this job is feeling the heart of the community beating as everyone I know is huddled around me in a church pew during a funeral. Like the morning sun, this is something I really missed during my tenure in Brussels.

Notwithstanding the sudden drop of income, I’m happy to be back in Malta doing what I love doing most. I feel blessed and lucky to have a wife who is supporting me throughout.

The Prime Minister seems to be saying that people coming from affluent backgrounds do not have a space in politics. Those who come from an elite background should not be represented in Parliament. Those who give great importance to the rule of law and good governance should not have a say.

I personally feel comfortable working with everyone; be it people coming from an affluent background and others, like me, coming from a more modest one as long as they are well-meaning and decent. What I’m not comfortable working with is ministers holding secret companies and bank accounts abroad.

It’s a bit rich coming from a Prime Minister who spent €11,000 for a week-long holiday in Dubai and who is happy sending his playlist to the National Philharmonic Orchestra for them to perform.

You see, Mr Prime Minister, it takes one to see one.

David Stellini is a Nationalist MP.