From Justyne Caruana, to Silvio Grixti, to Ian Castaldi Paris.

Robert Abela and the Labour government are facing three different crises, all three treated differently, but with a common thread.

Once again, Labour exponents were involved in situations that are embarrassing for them on a personal and political level, and for the party they represent.

Caruana was found to be in the wrong, by the Standards Commissioner, when a €15,000 contract was awarded to her “friend” Daniel Bogdanovic to carry out a job for which he was “neither qualified nor competent enough”.

For a week, there was procrastination. Caruana resisted calls for resignation, with Prime Minister Robert Abela, while saying that ministers must shoulder responsibilities, keeping her in her place as Education Minister. He said he wanted to wait out the process, one which was to see Caruana’s position being discussed by the Standards Committee. She stayed on defending her position, until she finally announced her resignation yesterday. She should have called it a day when the story broke in March.

Castaldi Paris has said that he will not contest the next election after it was reported that he owes €300,000 in tax dues, a sum he denies. But the story was enough to push him to say that he “needs to spend more time with his family” and will not put his name on the ballot sheet. He should have immediately resigned as an MP too.

Of the three, Grixti was the one who did the right thing immediately, announcing he was quitting from Parliament the moment news broke that he was questioned by the police over an investigation into the issuing of irregular sick leave certificates. He was man enough to understand the intricate situation he found himself in, and moved on. It is understood that neither he will contest the coming election.

These three latest upsets add up to the tens of others that Labour exponents have been involved in over the past years, since 2013. Some situations were more serious than others, but in different ways they exposed individuals who behaved badly, and by so doing put themselves, the Prime Minister, and the Labour government and party they form part of in an awkward situation.

It is Caruana’s second resignation in two years. She has eclipsed the unenviable record held by Konrad Mizzi, who lost his portfolio twice, but in two separate legislatures.

Caruana resigned days after she was first appointed by Robert Abela as Gozo Minister in January 2020, when it was revealed that her then husband had travelled abroad with the man accused of being a mastermind in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

At the time, Caruana had been described as having sacrificed herself because of something that was not her own doing.

The circumstances of yesterday’s resignation are somewhat different, as she was behind the contract that was given to a “friend”, who was close enough for the relationship to be deemed as being a violation of the code of ethics by the Standards Commissioner, even though the two deny they are romantically involved.

Caruana, Castaldi Paris and Grixti are three huge lumps of coal in Labour’s stocking this Christmas.