It is either now or never

This is proving to be a decade of discontent for the Nationalist Party. It suffered a crushing electoral defeat in 2013 and a larger one in 2017. The leadership race following the resignation of Simon Busuttil was surrounded by controversy as Adrian Delia announced his candidacy. The controversy persists.

Dr Delia has been linked to a money laundering investigation the police are undertaking following a report by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit about a prostitution racket in London some years ago. He has also faced taxation issues and, more recently, domestic violence accusations by his estranged wife. He has always denied any wrongdoing.

The Times of Malta has already declared he should have either resigned or temporarily withdrawn from politics until the allegations made against him are cleared so he would not cast a shadow on the party he leads. That opinion still holds though, admittedly, the responsibility is now no longer solely on him.

The PN’s chief political coordinator, Jean Pierre Debono, was correct when he declared that if there were members of the parliamentary group involved in the attacks against Dr Delia and the party they should “put up or shut up”.

He...