The situation inside the Nationalist Party has now degenerated beyond any possible repair.

The events of the past days have reached depths never seen before, not just in this party but also in other parties at least within living memory, ever since Paul Boffa was attacked with regards to his daughter.

True, Adrian Delia is not the only party leader with marital problems and this should not have impeded him from continuing to function as party leader.

But it is unheard of to find details about his home life being leaked to websites and spread by mobile apps. It is equally unheard of to even find recordings apparently coming from the Delia household on these same apps.

It is then the pits to sense the glee with which Delia’s anger at these leaks reported far and wide. There are very clearly forces at play that want to destroy the man and to push him off the cliff.

He has been trying to keep going by undertaking a punishing round of activities – going round clubs, meeting people, pressing the flesh, etc.

But his façade is getting shred, as was evident in his outburst in the interview on Sunday. Predictably, most of the media focused on that and relegated the rest of his message to a footnote, if any. On the other hand, not referring to what everyone has been talking about would have been equally damaging.

The situation is now beyond control, the party is only damaging itself every day and every hour. This must be made clear: Malta needs an  opposition party and one without this internecine warfare.

One must not presume to tell the party how to solve its problem: the party has its own structures and internal rules. Unfortunately, it would seem the party does not have ‘structures outside the structure’ such as the 1922 Group inside the British Conservative Party which could turn on Margaret Thatcher and tell her to go.

In such a critical situation, the PN must create its ‘structures outside the structure’, such as, for example, bringing the past leaders and senators together, people the party base still respects and would listen to.

Maybe too, the structures themselves can still show they have an independent mind and are not controlled by anybody nor motivated by blind loyalty. We wait for what can happen over the next days but we warn – time is running out. The situation has degenerated beyond repair.

We warn: this situation can definitely not be solved by keeping a stiff upper lip and going through the motions as if nothing has been happening.