A photo published Sunday on Times of Malta news portal, but later withdrawn, shows Edwin Bartolo among those welcoming Prime Minister Joseph Muscat in Marsascala on Sunday.

Edwin Bartolo’s infamous nickname Il-Qaħbu remains ingrained in the collective memory of many who would prefer to forget the incidents which took place in Żejtun during the 1980s when Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici led the country.         

Bartolo (in photo wearing a yellow shirt) continued to occupy a prominent role as Labour activist till 1992 when Alfred Sant became leader of the Labour Party on a pledge to eradicate violence from the party’s ranks. The sudden shift in internal politics pushed Il-Qaħbu, and others, to stand by Dom Mintoff when he occupied the back bench during Alfred Sant’s era as Leader of the Opposition and later Prime Minister for a short stint of 22 months.

By 1998 Mintoff was estranged from the Labour Party and so where his acolytes. But Edwin Bartolo resurfaced prominently in the Labour movement soon after Joseph Muscat became leader. He in fact ended in court over a brawl which took place during the 2009 MEP elections charged for having punched a PN sectional committee member, Grezzju Gambin, after the latter had reported Edwin Bartolo and Michael Spiteri 'il-Qattus' for being inside a polling station without any authorisation.

Ironically Mr Bartolo resurfaced at the PL activities at a time when the leader of the PN, Simon Busuttil, is accusing Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of taking on former works minister Lorry Sant’s tactics on environment issues. The PM’s speech at Marsascala focused almost entirely on the University investment proposed to be built on ODZ land owned by people who worked and benefited from Lorry Sant’s ministerial power of incumbency during the 1980s.