Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has categorically denied a stunning claim by PN MP Jason Azzopardi that he had called a snap election in 2017 to get Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination “out of the way”.

In a speech in Parliament, his first since resigning as Prime Minister last January, Muscat said there was no basis to this claim except for Azzopardi’s “senseless fantasies”.

“My style is that I believe politicians should be prepared to take hits and let free expression reign supreme, and I’ve been called corrupt, a robber and a thousand other things in Parliament while letting it go.”

“However, today I witnessed the most disgusting use of parliamentary privilege I’ve ever seen and I’m requesting a ruling [for breaching parliamentary privilege].”

“Jason Azzopardi is alleging that I had known about the plot to murder Daphne Caruana Galizia, which is absolutely not true. No level of political scrutiny justifies a person getting smeared with these allegations and there is no basis to these claims except the senseless fantasises of an MP.”

“He has the right to insult me as much as he likes, but it is intolerable for anyone to smear me in a situation like this.”

Muscat ended his speech by informing Azzopardi he is aware of a particular “personal case” involving him.

“This same MP had sent me so many messages through third parties to avoid getting attacked on a particular case, but because it was a personal case, I didn’t bring it up and I won’t bring it up because that’s where lines are drawn for me.”

“I have a thousand defects but I was the only Prime Minister under whom a major murder was solved.”