“When you lose someone close to you to cancer, which Alex and I both have, you realise that such things should never be politicised or even used as insults,” she told Lovin Malta.

“And it’s not something to joke around or use the word lightly.”

“I honestly don’t know Manuel Delia’s history in terms of health of his family and friends, but using such word to describe a person – could be your worst enemy, is not nice.”

“And I truly hope and believe he meant no harm and said it because he never experienced it and doesn’t know the true pain it can bring.”

Yesterday, Alex Borg came out swinging against Delia, who he denounced as a “small man wearing the dangerous jacket of a pseudo-intellectual”.

“Manuel Delia isn’t the PN and he isn’t an NGO. Like ONE, he is an agent of division,” Borg said. “His words are similar to ‘those who aren’t with us are against us’ (min mhux magħna hu kontra tagħna), words that my father taught me to despise and stop.”

“Maltese politics is more than that. It could be that I never make it to government but I will still do my utmost to ensure that the country and party are united and without hatred, not even toward its political adversaries.”

However, a number of people have stood up for Delia and said his comment should only be taken as a figure of speech.

Do you think such comments are acceptable political discourse these days?