It would have been easy for Joe Cassar to hang on to his seat in Parliament.

After all, his error of judgment is small when compared to a €260,000 retirement handshake, getting a Portomaso apartment for 10 months and finding a job for your wife at €13,000 a month.

Not to mention their chief who failed to fulfil his fundamental election promise – that of resigning if the power station was not ready in 24 months after the election – but still holds on to power and is more of a salesman than a politician. So much for preaching accountability before the election. And let’s not forget also that Joe Cassar was not involved in a €4.2 million bailout taken from taxpayers’ money and neither is he paying himself handsomely to use his own car.

But Joe Cassar is an honourable man, and honourable men move out even when they commit no illegalities.

Joe Cassar has been the target of so many campaigns against him, led by a Labour Party that saw in him an easy prey since he never stooped so low as to attack the person as they do in his regard. Often his family was brought to the fore so as to make the attack more vicious, knowing that Joe Cassar enjoys a tightly-knit family and is too much of a gentleman to retaliate in kind.

And, once his wife and children came into the public domain, it was no longer a case of riding the storm. Joe Cassar knew that whatever he said and did, he would have continued to be assailed by the hounds who wanted their pound of flesh. It was probable that he realised that his family would have continued to suffer, and he put them first, ahead of his political career, to defend them from the onslaught.

Joe Cassar also knew that his position was also having a negative effect on the Nationalist Party, in particular leader Simon Busuttil, with whom he shares a long-standing and strong friendship. He knew that his political adversaries and their allies were attacking him to attack Simon Busuttil too. And he did not want to put his leader in an awkward position.

Simon Busuttil’s acceptance of Joe Cassar’s resignation puts the PN leader in a much stronger position. Which is more than one can say of the Prime Minister, who has let bigger scandals go by without lifting a finger.

So now Joe Cassar will continue to fight to clear his name outside politics, with no position in the party or in Parliament.

There are many who think that a resignation in the wake of allegations is an admission of guilt. It is not always so. Joe Cassar has adamantly denied that he committed any illegalities, and he has been man enough to admit an error of judgment and released himself of his political duties to fight tooth and nail against those who have tarnished his reputation.

Again, this is much more than what other politicians were able to do in the wake of more shameful behaviour.

With Joe Cassar’s resignation, today Malta wakes up politically poorer.