It was an uninspiring speech delivered before a not very inspiring crowd. Not that the Independence mass meeting 'crowds' were very inspiring in the past couple of years. Adrian Delia is new at this game, and will surely improve with time, like others before him, but he made some big mistakes in his maiden 'mass meeting' speech.

He started off by reminiscing about the time when he was 17 and was attending a mass meeting on the same spot, how the country was experiencing violence and oppression under the Malta Labour Party. When the PN plays this card it is usually when it finds itself in some desperate situation. Then he said September was the month of the Great Siege of 1565 and the Siege of Malta during World War II. Like in his election campaign, he overused the words 'għadu' (enemy) and 'ġlieda' (fight).

Going forward, he tried to take the crowd back to the glorious days of Eddie Fenech Adami, insisting that the PN was still fighting for 'xogħol, ġustizzja u libertà'. Delia said the PN would keep up and step up its fight against corruption and also start a fight against hate. There needs to be a revolution of thought, a new way of doing politics and of uniting the country, he said, jarring with his previous references to enemies and fighting.

It was refreshing to hear Delia pledge to address poverty, especially the kind of poverty that does not show up on NSO press releases but is there nonetheless, and that the PN would work to give the country back to its people. He spoke about being with the people, listening to their problems and aspirations. One hopes that Delia will truly steer the party down this path, after the PN had, for many years became so detached with the electorate.

But his speech, which should have been shorter and punchier, was all over the place, mentioning everything from the courts, the police commissioner, property, the environment and traffic.

While it was good that the new PN leader vowed to fight injustices, it was perhaps a bit over the top to compare what is happening today with the MLP of the 1970s and 80s.

Perhaps a bit unfairly, Delia said the government was not doing anything in education, health, capital projects and social housing. But he hit home when he said the PL has not created any new sectors.

Then he made the mistake of criticising the government on transport, when the current administration has taken the bull by the horns, built the Kappara flyover, started working on the more ambitious Marsa project and launched a number of road widening and traffic easing projects at Malta's most notorious traffic hotspots.

He also took the partisan approach on Air Malta, claiming that the government does not care about workers and was threatening to close the airline down. He should know full well that the airline cannot survive without new direction, sacrifice and cooperation. Delia also went way overboard when he practically challenged Joseph Muscat to a cowboy showdown.

The new PN leader dedicated most of his time to criticise the Labour government when the more pressing priority is to heal the ugly wounds that the party has suffered through the short but bitter campaign. Some of the MPs and MEPs sitting behind him looked very uninterested, as if they were there not because they wanted to but because it was expected of them. Others just failed to show up, proving that all is not well within the party. This is the fight that Delia should be fighting now. The one against the government comes later.

Delia should also be more preoccupied with how he is going to obtain a Parliamentary seat, thus becoming Opposition Leader, seeing that none of his MPs seem to be willing to give up their place for him.