So some lowly pen pusher working in the dungeon underneath the new Parliament seems to have thought he (or she) had uncovered a scandal.

The fuel consumption of the car used by the Leader of the Opposition did not tally, this clerk found out, with what it was supposed to read.

We have not been told what was the difference between the two figures, if there was any. Certainly it cannot be in the same category as the sum that the State gives to the prime minister to use his own private vehicle, year after year.

After all, we are living in the years immediately following those that cried to high heavens because the previous administration added to their weekly salaries without telling the country (bad) but also the years when all but an unfortunate four of the government’s backbench have been given additional topping off salaries for doing something extra.

This, of course, is hardly mentioned.

But this discovery by the unnamed pen-pusher from the Parliament basement seems to have made its way to the very top of the government’s strategy group and proved to be heaven-sent, given all the controversies this government is facing.

So what better time to “discover” this discrepancy than just after the Leader of the Opposition unveiled a document promising good governance by a future PN administration?

That would show up the Leader of the Opposition as a person who preaches but does not do what he preaches, someone must have thought.

But the unveiling of the case was not to be done at the very top, such as by the Speaker himself, of course not. The way it was done was very subtle: it was leaked to Dr Busuttil himself in an unofficial manner leaving him to announce it himself. Once revealed, it was of course open game for all.

Nor was the case announced by the police who could have said they were investigating so and so.

Someone must have laughed himself to sleep. This was in the very best traditions of the Stasi.

Now, remember, these are people who brush elbows on a daily basis and who act civilly to each other, except that underneath the veneer of civility they are planning to trip the other guy down and to expose him to public ridicule.

This is not politics as the world out there understands it. This is anything but politics.

This paper will not dare tell Dr Busuttil what to do. But he would be making a huge mistake if he were to let it go. He must go to the very bottom of this skullduggery, beginning with the name of the clerk who ‘discovered’ the ‘discrepancy’ and the whole chain of command up till the very top, find out the timelines and the exact share of responsibility until the whole is mapped clear.

But of course there will be nothing of the sort. It is in the interest of the malefactors to bury the whole thing deep in the ground until the next thing to attract public attention comes around.