It took Joseph Muscat three weeks to fire Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia after his driver’s involvement in a shooting incident. Shooting in the direction of a human being in a car, not at some protected bird, about which the PM was more decisive in his actions.

It took him three weeks even though it was evident soon after the mishap that the official statement the government had issued on the night contained crucial inaccuracies, foremost among which is the use of the phrase “warning shots”.

So much so that 12 hours later, the government had to back track on its original declaration, with the minister calling a press conference to give an updated version of how things had happened. The minister’s admission that the incident had developed differently to what had been said the night before offered enough grounds for Joseph Muscat to tell Mallia to go there and then, not three weeks later.

And, let’s not forget, it is only thanks to eyewitnesses and the media that the government’s official position changed; otherwise we would perhaps still be talking about “warning shots”.

Labour therefore cannot point fingers at Simon Busuttil who, immediately after the husband of a former minister was arraigned on charges of misappropriating public funds, called a press conference to say that Giovanna Debono had resigned from the party.

Even here there is an important difference. Manuel Mallia did not resign, clinging to his position of power until Joseph Muscat was constrained to fire him. On the other hand, Giovanna Debono showed more class in realising that her position in the PN was no longer tenable and offering her resignation, which the party accepted.

Labour insisted right from the first moment that the story emerged that Simon Busuttil should have taken action on Giovanna Debono. They played on the fact that Dr Busuttil had previously boasted of taking a handful of seconds to decide to sack former Nationalist ministers Michael Falzon and Ninu Zammit from the party following the story carried in The Malta Independent about their Swiss bank accounts. Labour kept on counting the seconds to try to ridicule the Opposition Leader.

But Simon Busuttil could not have taken action before the former minister’s husband was arraigned. When the story was revealed, it was a just a newspaper article that led to an investigation by the police. The PN leader could not take a decision on Giovanna Debono until the police found enough evidence with which to take her husband to court. Otherwise he would have risked getting it wrong if the police investigation had led to nowhere. Once the police felt they have enough evidence with which to proceed, then Dr Busuttil immediately – not three weeks later – took the matter in hand.

Dr Busuttil took another bold decision on Tuesday. His idea to request that Chris Said does not re-contest the post of PN secretary general has been explained as one which will allow the Gozitan MP to focus on his homeland. Given that Mrs Debono no longer represents the PN and the third MP from the sister island, Frederick Azzopardi, has declared he will not be contesting the next election, the PN needed a strong presence in Gozo and, in this respect, there was no other option for Dr Busuttil. It was the logical thing to do.

But there is more to it than this, as it is a known fact that there were some internal difficulties that needed to be addressed. In one fell swoop, Dr Busuttil chose to relegate the secretary general to a candidate status - and giving a plausible reason for it - while opening the way for the post to be filled by someone who is closer to the leader in thought and style.

Unless, of course, it will be Chris Said who will have the last laugh when election time comes – and he would have given Gozo back to the PN (as he has been tasked to do) and using it as a launching pad to make a great comeback in the eventuality that the PN loses heavily again.