Updated at 5.15pm with reactions from Philip Micallef

Former parliamentary speaker and Labour candidate Myriam Spiteri Debono is not interested in becoming the next standards commissioner and is irked that she was not consulted before her name was put forward.

Contacted by Times of Malta, Spiteri Debono said she felt she was not the ideal person for the job so she was not interested in taking up the position.

“I never did anything in my life unless I was absolutely sure I was ideal for the position. In this case, I do not feel I am the best person to fill this role so I’m not interested,” she said.

Notary Spiteri Debono added that she had not been consulted by Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech or anyone within the party before her name was officially put forward.

Times of Malta reported on Thursday Spiteri Debono was one of three people the Nationalist Party proposed as the new standards commissioner.

It revealed how the Opposition leader had officially written to Prime Minister Robert Abela urging him to consider Spiteri Debono, former judge Silvio Meli or former Air Malta CEO Philip Micallef for the role.

When contacted, judge Meli confirmed that he was willing to serve the country in that post. He also said he had been asked before his name was put forward.

"I have a background in sport and when the national team calls you, you go and serve your country. I am a servant of the law and I feel I am fit to occupy that role. I always did that in my role as magistrate and then as judge," he said when contacted.  

Micallef too confirmed interest in the post, adding that he was honoured that his name had been put forward. 

"Parliament should be leading by example in everything carried out there from behaviour, the way business is conducted, respect for people with different ideas, respect for the environment... I find it very disappointing that no consensus can be reached as the person chosen needs to definitely enjoy the trust of both parties in Parliament as well as civil society at large," he said. 

As he expressed surprise that no better person could be found to fill this important post, he said that "in the unlikely event that I am chosen, I will do my best to carry out the job to the best of my abilities."

Abela has been insisting that the role, which was previously held by George Hyzler, would be best filled by former chief justice Joseph Azzopardi but the opposition has doubts about the level of Azzopardi’s “efficiency”.

The role of the standards commissioner is to investigate complaints and disciplinary issues concerning members of parliament. The person must be elected through a two-thirds majority vote in parliament.

Sources said that, in reply to Grech, Abela shot down all three PN proposed nominees, insisting Azzopardi would be the best choice.

A notary by profession, Spiteri Debono was a Labour activist and electoral candidate in the 1980s and 1990s and served as the first woman speaker of parliament from 1996 to 1998.

She frequently spoke out against partisan politics and more recently urged national redemption after the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Meli was first appointed magistrate in 1990 and, during his tenure, served as a member of the Council of Europe’s Multi-disciplinary Group on Corruption, helping, among others, with the drafting of a model code of conduct for public officials.

Micallef is a former CEO of Air Malta, Melita Cable and Malta Enterprise and a former chief officer of France Telecom and Olivetti.

The opposition had originally proposed retired judge Joseph Zammit McKeon for the role of standards commissioner but the government opposed the idea, suggesting that he should be appointed ombudsman instead.

Both parties agreed on Zammit McKeon’s appointment as ombudsman but discussions over who should be standards commissioner ended in stalemate.

Meanwhile, the government last week published details of a new bill that will allow it to appoint a standards commissioner without the need for a two-thirds majority in parliament.

The anti-deadlock mechanism that the government wants to introduce would allow MPs to appoint a standards commissioner by a simple majority if two initial votes fail to garner a two-thirds majority.

Each of those three votes would have to be held within seven days of the previous one, according to the legal text being proposed by the government.