Long before he became Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat had said that the Labour government would form the best Cabinet ever in Maltese political history.

Well, he certainly broke one record when he was given the opportunity, that of nominating the largest Cabinet ever, which is costing the country many more millions than the famous honoraria that he spoke so much about in the previous legislature.

As for being the best, well, things are proving him wrong, aren't they?

Those words are coming back to haunt him as he moves from one reshuffle just one year into the legislature to another major change seven months later.

As it happened, just one-third of the way into his term as prime minister, he has lost five of the ministers and parliamentary secretaries he had appointed. Four of his initial 14 ministers are now out of office, while a parliamentary secretary appointed in March 2013 has also lost his place.

The reasons for their departure have been varied.

Karmenu Vella was shipped to Brussels, removed from his earlier post as Tourism Minister in the first shake-up of the Cabinet last March. He was told to leave his ministry six months before he took up the post in Brussels. It was officially said that he was being given time to prepare for his European Union position. Others said it was a kind way of bringing in new blood.

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca is younger than Mr Vella, and she still had so much to give in her role as minister, so much so that she did not like it when it was proposed to her that she should become President. She was the most popular and loved minister at the time, and tried to resist the offer she was being made. But it was probably either the presidency or nothing (the Mallia case teaches us what kind of alternatives the PM offers) and so she reluctantly moved to San Anton. As minister, her growth in stature in the eyes of Labour supporters - and not only - was probably being perceived as a threat.

Godfrey Farrugia was the first to be rebuked in public when his decision to erect a tent outside the emergency department at Mater Dei Hospital was overruled by Joseph Muscat a few hours later. After that, it was clear that the PM was not happy with his health minister and at the first opportunity dumped him. Dr Farrugia was offered another post, which the PM knew that Dr Farrugia would have refused (another example of the options the PM gives) and so the Zebbug doctor was relegated to the backbench.

Franco Mercieca chose to renounce his post as parliamentary secretary to pursue his career in medicine. Why he decided to contest the election to serve the people and then give up a post in the Cabinet remains a mystery.

And then came Manuel Mallia, about whom so much has been written in the past days. Dr Mallia was the prime example of the new identity Joseph Muscat wanted to give what he started to describe as the Labour Movement. But after heavily contributing to Labour's win, as minister he quickly became a liability with a series of decisions that always put his ministry in bad light.

Five members of the "best Cabinet" are now out, just 21 months into the legislature.

Who's next is anyone's guess.