Dirty, and words that derive from it, are no longer acceptable in Parliament, and MPs addressing the House are encouraged to search for other words to use against their political adversaries.

Last Wednesday, during the parliamentary sitting discussing the motion of censure against the Prime Minister presented by independent MP Marlene Farrugia, the Speaker of the House of Representatives twice told MPs to choose another way to express themselves.

First it was Prime Minister Joseph Muscat who was stopped by Dr Anglu Farrugia, when the PM, looking directly at the Opposition Leader, said he was “justified to call (Simon Busuttil) dirty (mahmug)”. Dr Anglu Farrugia quickly intervened, telling the Prime Minister to use a different word, fit for Parliament.

Dr Muscat withdrew the expression, saying he wanted to give an example.

Later, as the sitting was drawing to a close, it was Marlene Farrugia who was stopped by the Speaker. She did not use the word “dirty”, but said that PM Muscat had constrained all Labour MPs to “be dirtied (jithammeg) by this attitude”, making reference to the Panama Papers scandal.

This time, the Speaker took a few seconds to intervene, but after a government member, Foreign Minister George Vella, objected, Dr Anglu Farrugia requested Dr Marlene Farrugia to be more careful in the choice of words.

Dr Anglu Farrugia stopped the independent MP “as I have told the Prime Minister,” with Dr Marlene Farrugia taking the cue and explained her position in a much more elaborate way.

So, as from the next sitting, “dirty” will no longer form part of Parliament’s dictionary. One wonders what MPs will come up with.