Claudio Grech brushes off PN leadership speculation

Nationalist MP Claudio Grech yesterday afternoon brushed off the suggestion that he should seek to take over the Nationalist Party’s leadership.

The idea was put forward by Malta Today co-owner Saviour Balzan on his personal blog. Balzan wrote that the PN needed a new leader – Claudio Grech. The call came at the end of a week in which it was confirmed that the wife of PN leader Adrian Delia had filed for separation.

Writing on Facebook yesterday afternoon, Grech said that the last thing the PN needed was speculation over its leadership. He said Delia had been elected in the most open and representative election for political party leadership ever, and that the duty of every MP was to be an integral part of the party’s work.

While appreciating all those who believed in his qualities, he said that he had taken his decision on the party leadership more than a year before.

Grech was one of the people touted for the leadership role when Simon Busuttil resigned following the worst electoral defeat ever suffered by the PN.

Grech said that his priority to serve as a voice to his constituents had not changed since then. He reiterated that he would continue working to help strengthen the PN’s political base and its goal of serving as an alternative government. “We can achieve this only if we work together,” Grech wrote.

He said all leaders he had worked with could confirm that he gave his utmost to the party and would continue to do so for as long as he was in politics.