Sorry to have put a spoke in your wheel, chaps – but you didn’t imagine that you could spring this on people by stealth, did you?

Chris Cardona, Minister for Lap-Dancing, has denied to The Times of Malta that Ronnie Pellegrini will be made chairman of the Malta Freeport Corporation, though his people refused to answer questions on whether he would be on the board of directors.

Ronnie Pellegrini himself wasn’t picking up the phone when they rang him.

One imagines that there is a bit of a war on, here. The same thing had happened with the appointment of Pellegrini’s very close friend, Jason Micallef, to the chairmanship of Valletta 2018.

The word was out days, if not weeks, ahead – but the government consistently denied that he would be given the post, when the press rang with their questions.

Then the appointment was announced, creating the impression that it had been done without the prime minister’s approval, and that there was a bit of push-and-pull going on.

The fact that Ronnie Pellegrini is Jason Micallef’s very close friend is a salient point here. If Pellegrini’s appointment is forced through, that’s greater testament to Micallef’s power and influence, and his strength of leverage.