Updated | Beppe Fenech Adami claims that Muscat leaked Mistra story to PN media

Speaking during current affairs programme Issues broadcast on Labour-owned station One, Beppe Fenech Adami claimed that Labour Leader Joseph Muscat leaked to the Nationalist Party the fact that the Mistra story was about to break in the run-up to the 2008 election.

He did not however go into detail regarding who Muscat allegedly leaked the story to, or when this took place. Efforts by MaltaToday to contact Fenech Adami for comments proved futile.

Speaking to MaltaToday, Labour spokesperson Kurt Farrugia categorically denied the allegation. "It is a blatant lie from someone who is very confused about the current state of affairs his party is in," he told MaltaToday.

During the programme, Fenech Adami also dismissed the suggestion that he has ambitions for the leadership of the Nationalist Party. "I have no ambitions to be leader," he said dismissively. "What I can say is that in politics one advances step by step, and I've climbed two steps already. I have been in politics, but I can always get out of it."

He also argued that the neither Nationalist party nor the country were facing a crisis, pointing to the government's track record in investment in health, education, and social services. "We surely have challenges, but certainly not a crisis."

Commenting on the current turmoil afflicting the PN, which just the day before voted down a motion calling for the expulsion of former Permanent Representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana presented by MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Fenech Adami said that "it is a phase every party passes through. We need to look forward. The PN will go into a general election with its head held high, its track record proudly on show. The people will make their choice and the public will certainly judge the PN, but it will certainly also judge the PL."

Fenech Adami hit out at the Labour party for "acting disgustingly, something that will certainly be kept in mind come election time," referring to statements by Labour MPs Karmenu Vella and Joe Mizzi which supported JPO's claims of collusion by RCC, as well as recorded statements made by RCC aired by One.

During the programme, former Nationalist minister and political analyst Michael Falzon said that attributed the ongoing internal rifts within the PN as the result of a weak leadership. "Gonzi should have stood his ground far sooner," Falzon said, pointing especially to the PN's handling of MP Franco Debono.

He added that now the question is whether, once parliament reconvenes, the government still enjoys a parliamentary majority. "I don't know whether [Gonzi] can say it or not, but so far there was no declaration from the three MPs [Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, Franco Debono, Jesmond Mugliett] that they would not support government."

Falzon however criticized the Labour Party for its "tactically unsound" approach of "not hanging back and letting the PN battle it out amongst each other", referring to the manner in which its media supported a specific agenda of one of those involved as "madness."

Deputy Labour Leader Toni Abela spoke also took the opportunity to defended the Labour Party's part in the PN's parliamentary saga, saying that as the party in opposition, the party is obliged to act upon any opportunity for it to present itself as a more stable alternative to the present government.

He accused the Nationalist Party of persisting in a state of denial, and argued that the sole reason why the Prime Minister had not called an early election was because of the solid lead that the Labour party enjoys in the polls.

"If the country and its people are so well off, and if he feels so at ease with his government's performance, why doesn't [Lawrence Gonzi] simply call a general election in the face of such uncertainty?' Abela asked.

Abela added that  government also wanted to enjoy the benefits of being in power for as long as possible, arguing that once an election is called, the PN would find itself tied in terms of which permits it could issue, and which transfers it could push through.

Political commentator and analyst Godfrey Grima, on the other hand, said that every Prime Minister had to face and handle parliamentary dissent. At the same time, however, he said that the current situation had got out of hand "when it became so open and intensely so."

He added that what intensified the problem was that "there were attempts to stifle [dissenters] by using bloggers against them, by home phone calls, and open disagreement with them."

Grima pointed to the Eddie Fenech Adami administration has being one of the the best in recent years, pointing to its balanced approach. "This is where the leadership qualtiy comes in. [EFA] developed as a leader."

Grima added that he sees the same "leadership quality" in Joseph Muscat, and insisted that whether speeches on "issues of national interest" made by the two leaders were to be compared, there would be much common ground.

"Gonzi however, did not develop in this way," he said. "Some people have it, some do not."