The Speaker of the House of Representatives this evening demanded that the Sunday Times withdraws serious allegations made against him “as a person and as Speaker” in yesterday’s editorial.

At the start of today’s sitting, Dr Anglu Farrugia referred to the editorial which stated that he and PM Joseph Muscat had gone out of their way to make sure that Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco could not be impeached.

This was a “direct attack” against Parliament and the Speaker, Dr Farrugia said. It is a lie to allege that there was some kind of agreement between the Speaker and the PM for this to take place.

Dr Farrugia demanded that the Sunday Times, in the next issues, withdraws what it said yesterday with the same prominence. Failing this, the Speaker said that he would be taking all necessary legal steps against the newspaper.

He said that when he was appointed Speaker he had made it public that he was no longer part of the Labour Party, of which he had been deputy leader until December.

Labour Party whip Carmelo Abela, speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister, said that Dr Joseph Muscat expected The Sunday Times to clarify what it had said.