Last weekend the Labour media came out with all flags fluttering: the PN are once again fighting each other, it's civil war again, they said.
What occasioned the outburst was an attack by columnist Kevin Cassar on PN MP Alex Borg.
Borg was not following the party line, Cassar alleged. He was defending the huge development at Villa Rosa instead of getting it re-dimensioned.
He was in favour of the over-development at the Fort Chambray. Etc, etc.
Where many PN speakers alleged conspiracies between the government and developers, Borg was serenely positive.
In other words, he continually undermined all that PN was sayíng, Cassar claimed.
It did not matter that Borg appeared more popular than many others in the most recent elections. Or perhaps it did matter.
Then things got confused. Kevin is not Nationalist, some said. Or perhaps no longer. He is now with Arnold Cassola's new party Momentum. Again, this opens wider perspectives. Again, the jury is out.
On a wider note it is true there is a chasm between, say, the position of the Repubblika group and the official stance of the party, as Labour likes to say.
Any cursory or superficial listening of the party's media has shown these last weeks a certain softening of tone - increased reference here and there to the Good Friday celebrations, etc. And this has been going on for quite some time.
There is a significant difference between the tone of a Repubblika statement and one by the official party.
At the same time the PN media has been taking in some much needed adverts by official agencies which are certainly not in the Repubblika tone. The end result is a certain confusion though it has been noted the PN media tries to counteract and balance.
From what I can see, the party's rank and file is following this position of lower belligerence, with some exceptions of hard outbursts.
Even so, the government sees to it that the Opposition is never without ammunition. Take the bombastic launch of Vision 2050 with the prime minister boarding for probably the first time in his life public transport. And at the same time avoiding crossing from Malta to Gozo on the Nicolaus, an opportunity not all Maltese and Gozitans get.
Then there is also the attitude of the party leader. By avoiding the extremism of Repubblika and its allies is he gaining in support or losing credibility? Time will tell.
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