The Opposition Leader’s wife this morning made an emotional plea on her Facebook page, saying that her son is suffering from exclusion ever since his father became a political figure.

“I ask all parents to imagine how you would feel if your young son excitedly hoped and awaits till the last day for an invitation to be handed over to him (and not getting it)… (and) having your son crying and begging you to call the party boy’s mother because in his mind the invitation must have got misplaced,” she wrote.

With no invitation forthcoming, there is a “feeling of loss”, Nicky Vella de Fremeaux wrote, adding that at times her son was “the only uninvited child”.

De Fremeaux said the manner in which her son was excluded was meant to exact the “maximum amount of damage”

“I always wonder with a knot in my throat how evil and calculating people can be, particularly when some of these parents were some of our closest friends,” she wrote. They were “capable of viciously and vindictively … humiliating our son causing him to distance himself from his best friends.” All this with the intention of harming his father, she said.

De Fremeaux gave an indication of who these parents are in a reply to one of the numerous posts of solidarity on her wall.

She said that these parents are the same people who “light candles and put flowers in Valletta” - a clear reference to activists who hold monthly vigils in the capital to remember slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The post, written in capital letters which is also representative of anger, de Fremeaux said the message is “dedicated to those parents once deemed our friends, as were our sons, who regularly slept over, but who suddenly, due to pathetic politics based on blinkered political ideas, which bigotry was categorically directed at my son, who is regularly excluded from parties”.

Earlier this week, the Commissioner for Children said that it firmly believes that bullying/harassment is never justified, stressing that it is the role of parents/guardians, educators and educational institutions and all other significant adults to ensure that all children, including children of politicians, are protected from all forms of bullying, harassment and/or discrimination.