Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff Keith Schembri walked past reporters waiting for him outside his office at Castille, refusing to comment on his future as pressure mounts – including from the Labour fold – for him and Konrad Mizzi to go.

When asked about his future as he entered the Office of the Prime Minister in Valletta on Monday morning, Mr Schembri replied: “No comment.”

It was the first time since the arrest of 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech in connection with the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia that Schembri appeared in public.

Schembri and Mizzi are under pressure to leave their post – or for Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to dismiss them - because of their links to the man who is being interrogated, as per official police statement, in connection with the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.