Former Labour Party secretary general Jason Micallef added his voice of concern about the current political situation in the country, saying that the 1 May celebrations this year are obscured by those who are “untouchable” even when they “pierced a hole in the ship to the detriment of the captain and passengers”.

In what can be interpreted as a clear reference to the Panama Papers scandal and the decision taken by the Prime Minister to retain Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri by his side at Castille, Mr Micallef – who is today the Valletta 18 chairman – spoke out against the unbridled egoism of those who have an uncontrolled desire for money and power.

The behaviour of these people is causing harm to the ship, captain and genuine passengers who remained on the vessel in good and bad times, he said.

His outburst was picked up by independent MP Marlene Farrugia who urged all genuine people to go to Valletta for the Labour Party’s 1 May demonstration and tell the “hijacked and confused” government that “it was elected to safeguard the interests of Malta and the Maltese”.

She also urged them to “tell the government to clean itself up and continue to govern or else get away” and allow the country to be governed by those who are loyal to it. 

Dr Farrugia, who resigned from Labour last November, had expressed her intention to take part in the Labour Party's mass meeting on Sunday, but later changed her mind after a telephone call from the President, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, who asked her not to go because of the prevailing political climate.

Former Labour Minister Joe Grima, today the government's tourism envoy, added more fuel to the debate in another post on Facebook.

He wrote that Jason Micallef is irritated with what happened like any other Labourite. "But the blame lies not only with who, with arrogance, came out (in public) saying that (after all) he remained a minister and so is not guilty of anything, but also with the solution that has been found (and) which has not been accepted by the people. To come out saying, after all that criticism, that 'I was a minister and remained a minister' is nothing but a cold challenge to Labourites who expected more decent behaviour".

What Evarist Bartolo said - that the more things change, the more they stay the same - is correct, Mr Grima wrote. Normally, things are forgotten after three days. But these are not normal circumstances, Mr Grima said.