Robert Abela is fast becoming a replica of his predecessor Joseph Muscat.

Soon after taking over Castille, Abela’s undeclared but obvious aim was to distance himself from Muscat, who ended his tenure as Prime Minister with the title of man of the year for corruption and organised crime, bestowed upon him by an international consortium of journalists.

Abela seemed to be trying hard to give his government and the Labour Party a new image, while at the same time never denouncing what Muscat had done, given the cult status he enjoys in the Labour ranks. His sacking of Konrad Mizzi from the PL parliamentary group – but not from the party – was one way in which Abela showed that he was at least attempting to right what was wrong.

But the more time passed, the more Abela started to steer the boat very much like Muscat used to do. Muscat resigned from Parliament, but his shadow continued to loom large over Abela. More than once, Muscat indicated that his political career may not be over as everyone was led to believe, and this must have pushed Abela into seeking to be more like him (Muscat) than he had ever been.

Muscat’s return to politics will not be good news for Abela. The current PM knows that he lacks the charisma that Muscat enjoys. Most PL diehards will always choose Muscat over Abela, in whatever circumstances. So the only way Abela has to endear himself more with the grassroots is to be more like Muscat.

In his time, Muscat made inroads among the neutrals too, and this helped Labour achieve victory after victory in the polls. Abela does not enjoy the same attraction among the so-called neutral voters, and this may explain the sudden 10,000 vote shift against Labour in the last survey, which came after some difficult moments for the PL. It’s still not enough for the PL to become worried, but it could be an indication.

No doubt, the recent stories about Abela have not helped his cause. That Abela’s law firm had its retainer with the Planning Authority raised from €7,300 in 2013 to €17,110 in 2019 is not something that will earn him votes. That he had been involved in a property deal with a man recently charged with kidnapping is not good news either.

Abela is realising that he is judged more harshly than Muscat, and while Muscat many times got away with many shortcomings until all came crashing down in November 2019, Abela does not enjoy unconditional support, not even in his own parliamentary group. Some members still miss Muscat and would welcome him back with open arms.

All this has pushed Abela into changing his style to take it closer to Muscat, in the hope that his own people will start to revere him in the same way that they did with his predecessor. In the last weeks, we have seen him use language and style which is much closer to those of Muscat, compared to the language and style Abela used in the first months of his term as PM.

Maybe what Abela is trying to do is a way to keep Muscat out of politics by emulating him as much as possible. Whether Muscat will stay out, given his narcissism and enjoyment of being in the limelight, is to be seen.