Labour MP Evarist Bartolo’s outburst against Malta’s ambassador to the European Union, Richard Cachia Caruana, during a discussion programme on the Opposition’s radio station last Saturday clearly indicates that the PL knows it has lost all arguments on this particular issue and is now trying to pick up the pieces.

The PL’s motion against Mr Cachia Caruana smacked of an opportunity the party saw to tempt renegade Nationalist MP Franco Debono to vote against his own government, given that the Għaxaq lawyer had lambasted Malta’s envoy in previous weeks. The Labour Party has fallen for this on other occasions, but it seems that lessons have not been learnt.

This time, again, the move is backfiring badly on Labour, and the PL is now trying to find ways and means how to backtrack without losing face. In doing so, they seem to be making matters worse for themselves, and this political auto-goal is likely to be of great proportions for the Labour Party.

Withdrawing the motion is no option for Labour, as it would be admitting defeat. But the way things have developed will not lead to victory either.

Mr Bartolo’s statements last Saturday – for which Mr Cachia Caruana said he will sue for libel – are nothing but an attempt by the Labour Party to divert attention from the core matter, which it knows it has lost, to try to raise public sentiment against Mr Cachia Caruana.

The two-hour testimony given by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi during last Wednesday’s Foreign and European Affairs Committee meeting in Parliament was crystal clear and convincing. He explained, in great detail, that there was no wrongdoing. Yet the more important factor was not Dr Gonzi’s statement, but the weak questions that the Labour representatives came up with afterwards. It was evident that Labour could find nothing to put the PM in a corner.

The testimony will resume this evening, following which it will be Mr Cachia Caruana’s turn to appear before the committee. But it is already obvious that the Labour Party knows that in its haste to portray the government in bad light, it mishandled the situation badly.

The Labour Party probably now wishes that it did not start the ball rolling in the first place.