It all happened in a very silky way.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat held a press conference grandly at the door of the Auberge de Castille, with traffic rerouted, journalists placed on a platform on top of the steps and everybody wondering what was the prime minister about to announce.

The press conference could easily have been held in one of the halls of Castille, as previously used to be done, or even in the Castille courtyard as used to be done when a visiting head of government called, including Angela Merkel.

Lo and behold, the subject of the press conference was that the new Labour administration had been 100 days in power and the head of government, justifiably, wanted to tell the country how much it has been doing.

That is, everything considered, acceptable, perhaps minus a little of the hoo-ha surrounding the event.

Then, the new prime minister let slip something rather more substantial buried under the minutiae of what the government has succeeded in doing in just 100 days.

He announced that parliamentary secretary Owen Bonnici would be working under him, at OPM, rather than under Minister Manuel Mallia.

The announcement came packaged with reassuring noises as if it was nothing more than a change of location for Dr Bonnici.

In reality, however, there is a background.

During the past legislature, when Franco Debono was leading the attack on Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, he had argued that nowhere else in Europe are the justice and home affairs incorporated in one and the same ministry because of potential conflicts of interest.

In that debate, as is recorded, the Labour Party had agreed wholeheartedly with this thesis.

Great thus was the surprise, when the list of ministers was announced just after the election and the country found that Minister Mallia had one of the widest Cabinet remits (also including the army) and that Parliamentary Secretary Dr Bonnici would be working in his ministry.

When people questioned this arrangement, it was explained, if that is the proper word, that Dr Bonnici would focus on the Court and Dr Mallia on the police.

Then, as all remember, came that incredible episode when Dr Mallia saw fit to announce an amnesty and after being forced to announce it in Parliament in an impromptu way, went to prison and announced the same to the overjoyed prisoners who immediately took up the Labour Party election mantra while Dr Mallia was submerged in embraces, kisses and back slaps. The whole country, even those who just 100 days before had voted for Labour, looked on in amazement and shock.

Now Dr Mallia is a well-versed lawyer in the criminal court and is obviously used to defend people charged with crimes. But even an experienced lawyer, such as he, can never mask when he is defending a losing brief. And when Dr Mallia argued in Parliament he was doing what previous Nationalist administrations did (but only up to 1987) his arguments became rather undone.

Whether the slight shift in location where Dr Bonnici works from is a real Cabinet reshuffle, as some may argue, and whether it is a direct result of Dr Mallia’s appearance at prison, is obviously, a State secret and one that an administration fresh in power will surely refuse to admit.

But seen from outside the railings in front of Castille, that is how it looks. In that case, Dr Muscat proves he is really listening to what the country is saying and acting accordingly.