Abandoned health portfolio split disrupted shadow cabinet plans

Alex Borg’s designs for his shadow cabinet was “disrupted” when initial plans to split the healthcare portfolio in two were abandoned, resulting in the mammoth shadow cabinet unveiled on Friday, according to party insiders who spoke to Times of Malta.

Sources close to the party said Borg had initially planned to split the healthcare portfolio in two, with responsibilities divided among Adrian Delia and Stephen Spiteri.

According to sources, Delia was to be made shadow minister for health, with Spiteri, the only doctor within PN’s parliamentary group, responsible for mental health, primary care and oncology, among others.

This would have marked a return to healthcare for Delia, who previously shadowed the sector between 2024 and late 2025.

According to insiders, the plan was intended to reflect the government’s appointment of Ian Borg as health minister, a move widely seen as signalling the government’s intention to focus on healthcare infrastructure over the coming years.

However, the plans quickly fell through, although insiders offered contrasting reasons for this.

One official said Spiteri was to be made a spokesperson, not shadow minister, in Borg’s new two-tiered cabinet.

The move would have effectively marked a demotion for Spiteri, who remains a popular figure among constituents and a strong vote-getter.

According to the source, Spiteri refused to give up his portfolio, throwing a spanner in the works and forcing Borg to backtrack.

However, Spiteri refuted this suggestion when contacted yesterday.

Spiteri confirmed that he was initially offered the mental health and primary care portfolio, insisting that this was as a shadow minister, not as a spokesperson. Delia would have taken over the remainder of the health portfolio, also as a shadow minister, according to Spiteri.

However, Spiteri said that the plans were later abandoned by the party, following discussions.

Meanwhile, Delia remained tight-lipped when contacted, saying “I would never dream of sharing anything that was discussed internally,” and insisting that he was happy to retain the finance portfolio.

Yesterday, Times of Malta published an opinion piece penned by Delia discussing healthcare spending and infrastructure.

Questions sent to the PN, asking why the plans to split the healthcare portfolio were abandoned, remained unanswered.

A domino effect

Insiders say the uncertainty over the healthcare portfolio sparked a domino effect that rippled throughout the rest of the shadow cabinet appointments.

According to one insider, the finance portfolio was slated to go to Darren Carabott, one of the party’s most promising young MPs, once Delia moved to healthcare.

Instead, Carabott, who is believed to have been eager to retain the home affairs portfolio he held over the past several years, found himself with the economy portfolio.

This, in turn, meant that another of the party’s promising young MPs, Jerome Caruana Cilia, had to find a new home, eventually taking over the education portfolio.

A government-in-waiting

More broadly, the move ultimately meant that Borg’s tiered shadow cabinet ended up outnumbering that appointed by Robert Abela earlier this month, with 28 shadow ministers and eight spokespersons.

Insiders said the initial idea behind the tiered shadow cabinet was for the party to portray itself as a government-in-waiting, putting forward a clear counterpart to each government minister.

Sources said the recent electoral campaign showed how PN at times struggled to counteract Labour’s image of a broad team, with prospective voters left confused over who would occupy which cabinet role within a PN government.

“The idea was to give the electorate a head-to-head choice between Labour’s ministers and their counterparts in our shadow cabinet,” one PN insider said.

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We believe that, in many roles, we have the upper hand

Several insiders questioned why every opposition MP was handed a role, arguing that “at some point you have to start signalling who your core group is and make it clear who is on the decline”.

Some pointed to how certain veteran MPs were handed prominent portfolios at the expense of new blood, despite their flagging popularity among the electorate, such as the case of Beppe Fenech Adami who retained his foreign affairs portfolio.

One observer pointed out that most major portfolios within the party – from finance to health, foreign affairs and justice – remain unchanged from the previous legislature, all in the hands of veterans.

Another argued that the shadow cabinet appointments had led the party to “lose a lot of the momentum it had gained in the election”.

Others had more sympathy for Borg’s task in selecting his team.

“Choosing a cabinet is one of the most difficult tasks that any leader has,” one insider said.

“This is especially true in opposition because, unlike government, you have no other government jobs to offer backbenchers.”

Key roles

Several sources said the party is still struggling to fill certain key roles, with many pointing to the finance portfolio as particularly troublesome.

PN has had three finance shadow ministers in recent years, in sharp contrast to the steady presence of Clyde Caruana on the Labour benches.

The foiled plan to hand the portfolio to Carabott was the latest move to address this issue, one insider said.

Carabott is widely considered one of the party’s most popular young MPs and is seen to have performed strongly as the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, leading the committee in scrutinising government expenditure.

However, others questioned the wisdom of having the finance portfolio change hands yet again.

“Having a fourth finance spokesperson in four years does not look good,” one insider said, saying they expected Delia to retain the post for the sake of “stability”.

Some insiders also questioned the appointment of new MP Conrad Borg Manché, known for his conservative views, to the home affairs portfolio.

While there was broad consensus that, given his strong showing in the election, Borg Manché would be handed a prominent role within the shadow cabinet, some said they expected this to be linked to the family portfolio, given his stated aim of reforming to Malta’s family courts as a parliamentarian.

One party member questioned whether Borg Manché’s appointment to the home affairs portfolio was part of a pre-electoral agreement for him to contest the election on a PN ticket.

Nevertheless, others said Borg Manché could prove a good fit for home affairs.

“He appeals to a core of voters who are particularly concerned about security issues,” one party insider said.

“His challenge will be to perform well when facing (home affairs minister) Glenn Bedingfield directly, since Bedingfield is a good debater”.