In the weeks preceding the European Parliament and local council elections last June, the Prime Minister's favourite word in his public appearances was "establishment".

Robert Abela constantly harped about what to him was a hidden hand that aimed to cause damage to the Labour Party and Labour government. He made it a point to mention the "establishment" at every opportunity, even when not prompted.

He went as far as describing the situation that was developing at the time as a "holy war" against the PL, saying that the "establishment" was using all its tools to try to deflect attention away from the good the government was doing. On one occasion, he said that this "establishment" had been trying to "stop us since 2013", the year when the Labour Party returned to government. He also said that the "people in the south knew who this establishment was", alluding to the heavy fuel oil power station and recycling plant built by the Nationalist Party. He spoke of tentacles that were reaching out to disrupt the government's work and said he will not allow the "establishment" to destabilise the country.

Abela used the term indiscriminately, implying that the "establishment" was behind the removal of Adrian Delia from PN leader and had instead put Bernard Grech as "its puppet". He had spoken of a Brussels establishment too, of which he said the PN formed part. He had pointed fingers at the independent media as well, saying that journalists were taking orders from the "establishment" to ask him difficult questions. It appeared that anyone who dared criticise Labour was, to Abela, part of this "establishment".

But the real target, in those days, was the judiciary, with Abela repeatedly indicating that the "timing" of certain decisions was aimed to hurt the government and the PL. Specifically, he was referring to the conclusion of a magisterial inquiry into the hospitals' deal which, as we know, led to the arraignment of former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and three former ministers, among others. The memory of a huge Labour crowd welcoming the accused as they were escorted into the law courts building is still fresh in our collective memory.  At the time, Labour grassroots were instigated to turn up in Valletta to express their support to Muscat and Co.

The Prime Minister's strategy to blame everything on the "establishment" did not work. If anything, it did so against him.

The election results showed that Labour, although still the largest party in Malta, is not as popular as it used to be. All of a sudden, it lost a sizeable chunk of the advantage it held over the PN. In the MEP election, it won by 8,400 votes (much less than the 42,000 advantage in 2019), and won the local council elections by 20,000 votes, down from the 47,000-strong win five years ago.

Soon enough the word "establishment" disappeared from Abela's vocabulary. He no longer mentions it. He no longer refers to this invisible body working against all that Labour stands for. Maybe its use during the election campaign contributed to pushing people away from Labour, rather than attract voters. Maybe his attempt to play the victim backfired. And maybe the Prime Minister realised that spinning conspiracy theories did not serve his purpose.

So he has chosen not to speak about it again. While Labour diehards believed their leader that there was a plot that was hurting their party, other voters who do not associate themselves with any political organisation and who shift allegiance depending on circumstances, are more likely to have drifted away from voting Labour because of what Abela had been saying about this blessed "establishment".  

Labour exponents, who were quick to pounce on what Abela had been saying before the 8 June elections and began using to term often too, have also stopped blaming the "establishment". They have probably been given orders not to. Labour is hoping that it will soon be forgotten.

Last Sunday, the Prime Minister was asked by this media house whether he thinks that the "establishment" was still working against the PL. His answer, we believe, exposed who the Prime Minister was really referring to when he used to speak about the "establishment".

This is because, in his reply, the PM went on a rant about what the government had done and planned to do to strengthen the judiciary. While the question referred to the "establishment" in the broadest sense, Abela immediately started to speak about the justice system, and what the government had done to give it more resources. And he started and finished his answer by, once again, mentioning the "timing".

So it is easy to conclude who the Prime Minister really had in mind when he spoke about the "establishment" before the 8 June election.