Desperate and dangerous: the election campaign in which they fight for their lives

The significance of the discoveries in the Panama Papers cannot be overstated, particularly because it is a point crucially missed by most.

If it hadn’t been for those discoveries, this would be just another general election – yes, with high stakes for the continuation of the Muscat-Schembri-Mizzi-Tonna-Grech roadmap, but still just another election.

The discovery of that offshore network, however, means that they are now not fighting for re-election, but fighting for their lives. Winning will put off the inevitable for another five years, or it may give them the leeway they need to cover their tracks.

Either way, if Labour loses, Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri are going to run headlong into a major police investigation. And while the Opposition leader probably has political-correctness qualms about mentioning him, that police investigation is inevitably going to take down their corrupt accountant, Brian Tonna, who has broken every rule in the book.

A police investigation into the affairs of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri will also net the Prime Minister and, I suspect, given his close association with both Brian Tonna and Konrad Mizzi, also the deputy Prime Minister.

But Malta is Montenegro and we don’t mind electing criminals to high office. We only get tetchy when they accept 400-euro clocks and take trips to watch a football match.