Is there a single government minister who knows how to behave?

The Education Minister, who portfolio does not include anything remotely connected to financial services, has launched yet another assault on the chairman of the Malta Financial Services Authority. And this time it is not on Facebook, but in parliament.

I am not about to go into the merits of what Evarist Bartolo said about Joe Bannister. It is my view that perhaps it’s time for Bannister to be forcibly retired, not necessarily because of any wrong-doing (I have no information on that score, at all) but because he’s been there from day one, the authority is not a personal fiefdom, and it’s time for new ideas and energy.

But here’s the thing. Evarist Bartolo is a minister of the government, and not a backbencher or a member of the Opposition. It therefore follows that if he thinks Bannister he should go, and has reasons why, the proper place for him to speak about this is in cabinet meetings.

Has he done so – or is he using parliament as a substitute because he doesn’t know what the proper conduct of government business is? And if he has brought up the matter of Joe Bannister in cabinet meetings with his colleagues, then why is he also bringing it up in parliament?

He is bringing it up in public, in parliament, for one reason only: to create a threatening atmosphere of nastiness and intimidation, in which the Labour Party specialises.