Jason Micallef’s candidature for the post of the Labour Party’s Deputy Leader for Party Affairs has ruffled feathers within the PL’s ranks, and has prompted others to recall moments of the past – and present – where Micallef and both Robert Abela and his father George Abela did not necessarily see eye to eye.

There is absolutely no love lost between Jason Micallef and Robert Abela’s father, George Abela.  The feud dates back to the time that both Micallef and George Abela were involved within the Labour Party.

George Abela himself served as the Deputy Leader for Party Affairs – the same role that Micallef has now thrown his hat into the ring for – between 1992 and 1998, which is when Abela split from the party, disagreeing with then Prime Minister Alfred Sant’s decision to go for an early election midway through his legislature in government.

Abela stood down as deputy leader, and Sant’s Labour lost the election, with the Nationalist Party returning to government after less than two years.

Jason Micallef meanwhile served as the Labour Party’s Secretary General between 2003 and 2009, and was part of the party’s administration when it narrowly lost the 2008 general election to the Nationalist Party.

It was in 2008 that Micallef’s disdain for George Abela made it to the public’s television screen, as he claimed on the television programme BondiPlus that Abela had abandoned the Labour Party in 1998.

"I understand why George Abela has no faith in the delegates, since they are still upset after he abandoned the party mid-way through the (1998) election," Micallef had said back then, as Abela himself contested to succeed Sant as the PL’s leader.

 When he was asked whether he was ready to work with Micallef, Abela responded: “I think Jason Micallef has already decided the answer to that question.  Of course not. As if he who damaged me so much in the past can today come and say he is ready to work shoulder-to-shoulder with me.”

As it happened, Abela’s bid to succeed Sant was unsuccessful: he made it to the final run-off amongst a whole field of candidates, but was ultimately beaten by Joseph Muscat, who became Labour Party leader.

Abela would go on to be nominated as the President of the Republic in 2009 by Nationalist Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.  Micallef, at the time still PL General Secretary, did not receive an invitation to attend Abela’s inauguration ceremony as President.

Micallef may have glued himself to Muscat’s hip in the leadership election between him and Abela, but his tenure as PL General Secretary did not last that much longer after Muscat was elected as PL leader.

He faced pressure to step down after the 2008 defeat – George Abela himself had gone as far as requesting a detailed report analysing who was responsible for the electoral defeat, an apparent dig at Micallef, who had overseen the party’s electoral campaign as its general secretary.

Some within the party felt that he was associated with the electoral defeat and that his tone conflicted with the tone of reconciliation that Muscat had adopted at the time.  He ultimately resigned in September 2009 after months of rumours and fallouts, and took on the position of Chairman of the Labour Party’s media arm ONE Productions.

Muscat abolished the post of Secretary General soon after, and he instead created the role of CEO – which continues to exist till this day.

Micallef meanwhile continued to hold his position leading the PL’s media arm, even when George Abela’s son – Robert Abela – was elected as PL leader succeeding Muscat in January 2020.

He stepped down in December 2022, just two months after Abela had ordered an internal review of ONE, amid concerns over the company’s finances.  ONE has not filed audited accounts since 2010 – the year after Micallef took over.

Sources had said that Abela’s request for a review had not gone down well with Micallef who interpreted it as being a sign of a “lack of trust” in his leadership.

Micallef remained a vocal PL activist, and ever since Muscat’s exit from political life under the cloud of mass protests and grave allegations he has been one of the primary voices supporting the ex-Prime Minister.

Micallef in fact was one of the chief organisers of a demonstration in front of the law courts earlier this year as Muscat was charged with money laundering and corruption, amongst other things, in relation to the Vitals hospitals deal.  He went as far as being inside the court room, next to Muscat’s wife Michelle, during that sitting.

In the meantime, the PL went on to register something of a hollow victory in the MEP elections a couple of weeks later: the party won the election but its margin of victory had shrunk to just 8,454 votes.

Micallef had published his post-mortem of the result on his Facebook page, saying that the PL had grown distant from its grassroots supporters in the last two years, criticising certain government entities for their lack of coordination, and comparing some Cabinet ministers to teenagers due to their social media activity.

He also said that the PL’s electoral campaign had given the impression that all was well, and a concert on the eve of the election made it seem as though the party was already celebrating before the people had even voted.

“The near future will be a huge test for the PL and its leadership,” he had said. “Serious reflection is required from within and without to analyse what led the PL to lose several thousands of voters in a single election. Time is on PL’s side, and there is enough time to arrange things.”

At no point did he give indication that he was willing to put his hat in the ring for a party post.  But when Daniel Micallef announced that he’d be stepping down, the opportunity presented itself on a silver platter.

In announcing his bid for the deputy leadership role, Jason Micallef said that he had spoken to many people – including Robert Abela.  Exactly what was said between them can only be speculated, but Abela’s reaction to Micallef’s candidature is telling: the Prime Minister isn’t particularly pleased at the prospect.

“You asked me about a specific person, but I think my reply counts in general, when your time is up and you've given your contribution, don't come back," Abela said when asked about Micallef’s candidature during an interview aired on Sunday.

The party had to continue to increase its appeal to middle of the road voters, Abela said as he spoke against adopting a siege mentality. "Every time in the past that the Labour Party closed itself up, it lost the election,” he said.

Asked whether Micallef would appeal to middle of the road voters, Abela replied that it was “up to the delegates to decide.” 

"What I can say is the same reply I gave you earlier, you cannot turn back the clock, you can only go forward," Abela said.