Falzon yesterday denied he is considering withdrawing from the Labour leadership race, claiming that certain rumours currently doing the rounds were aimed at damaging his candidature.

Dr Falzon said in a statement that he had no intention of abandoning the party at such a difficult moment. This was something he had never done in the 17 years he has been working within it.

Another rumour, he said, was that procedures against him had been initiated by the MLP Board of Discipline and Vigilance. As far as he knew, this was a lie as he had not been notified of any procedures.

The rumour was, he said, that these procedures had supposedly been initiated because of his public comments on the electoral defeat report. He had, however, given his response with the blessing of the party's executive.

In fact, it was the executive which had decided to publish the report without discussing and taking a position on it. It was also the executive which had taken the decision that anyone who wanted to express his opinion could go public. He wanted to thank the executive for this.

Opinions about the report were also expressed by, among others, the party president, the deputy president and the acting leader of the party, he added.