Loyalist Manuel Cuschieri vows to stand up to Muscat opponents inside Labour

Labour loyalist Manuel Cuschieri, the presenter of Smash TV’s Linja Diretta, has vowed that he would stand up to anyone inside Labour who is opposing the return of disgraced former PM Joseph Muscat to politics with a run for MEP.

Muscat has signalled his intention that he would not be averse to contesting for a seat in the European Parliament in the coming June 2024 elections. Muscat’s possible comeback was talk of the town after Cuschieri posted a laudatory Facbeook post on Muscat, asking his followers whether they agreed that Muscat should return to the Labour fore as an MEP.

In a long-winded introduction on Thursday evening, Cuschieri on Linja Diretta paid tribute to Labour leader Robert Abela as a prime minister who had protected the country from the challenges of inflation and energy costs. “It’s like a football team. We had an excellent coach who gave us results from 2009 to 2020, and now we have another excellent coach… how can I contemplate not voting for Labour,” Cuschieri said, referring to doubtful Labour voters who might not vote in the 2024 European elections.

Cuschieri also said he would not hold it against Abela after he had been temporarily axed from Labour radio One over suggestions that he was waging a pro-Muscat campaign. “I know today that this was not the PM’s doing, but that of two people influencing him in the wrong decision. But I do not judge him on the basis of that, because I can see what he is doing for Labour and the country.”

Cuschieri said that in the same way that he believed in freedom of expression for all Labour members, so should Joseph Muscat be allowed to run for the European elections. “I’d have a problem in seeing Labour not giving space to everyone... Joseph Muscat must be a candidate so that we ensure the best results for Labour and Malta, because after the bitter experience of the last years with Nationalist MEPs tarnishing our nation, we need the best Labour representation that puts Malta before anything else.”