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maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 5 JULY 2017 News 7 TIM DIACONO HEALTH minister Chris Fearne focused on progress in the health sector and his personal relationship with Prime Minister Joseph Mus- cat as he launched his bid to become Labour's deputy leader for parliamentary af- fairs. Launching his campaign in front of the oncology hos- pital, Fearne said that his personal relationship with Muscat dates back several years and recounted how he had endorsed him as Labour leader back in 2008. "Joseph [sic] had asked me to endorse him as leader back in 2008, and I did so will- ingly," he said. "I am proud to have endorsed Joseph, and it is my intention to continue working closely with him in the future." He refused to weigh in on whether he will target the Labour leadership if Mus- cat keeps his promise not to contest the next election. In- stead, he said that he would use his time as deputy leader and deputy Prime Minister to try and convince the Labour leader to go back on his word and stay on as party leader. Fearne will compete against finance minister Edward Sci- cluna and equality minster Helena Dalli for the deputy leadership position on 15 Ju- ly. The slogan chosen for his campaign is 'Working for a Better Malta'. He dismissed a MaltaToday report that Muscat personal- ly wants Scicluna by his side as deputy Prime Minister. "After the election, I spoke to Muscat about the possibil- ity of running for the deputy leadership and he encour- aged me to do so just as he encouraged the other two candidates," he said. "All three candidates have been approved by Muscat." Fearne said that Labour del- egates would have a pleasant selection headache when it comes to deciding whether he, Scicluna or Dalli should be their deputy leader for parliamentary affairs. "We are all strong candi- dates who had formed part of the success of the last admin- istration," he said, describ- ing the PL delegates' position as akin to that of a football manager who must pick one out of three top strikers to be in the starting 11. "On the other hand, the Nationalist Party can hardly even field a starting 11… it doesn't even have a manager or a captain," he quipped. Fearne said that he has al- ready spearheaded progress in the health sector in the four weeks since the general election – such as adding an anti-bladder cancer drug to the government's formulary list, adding new operations for cancer and glaucoma pa- tients, and launching a new international Masters' pro- gramme for dentists at Smart City. In the coming weeks, the health ministry will launch a screening programme for newborn babies so as to de- tect typhoid problems from the start, and will start roll- ing out free insulin sticks to diabetes patients. As deputy leader for par- liamentary affairs, he said he would welcome Speaker Anglu Farrugia's call to slash speaking times for MPs for the sake of more lively parlia- mentary debate, and will seek to boost the resources grant- ed to parliamentary commit- tees and individual MPs. Fearne described himself as an energetic, determined and competent person who has been militating in the Labour Party since the days of Dom Mintoff. "Muscat managed to turn Labour's fortunes around and transform it into a winning party, but if we want to keep winning then we must re- main close to the people and not allow ourselves to grow arrogant," he said. "First we created wealth and now we must focus on distributing it fairly, such as by eradicating poverty and precarious work, increasing pensions, and im- proving social services. We will do this because we re- main a workers' party." SALES EXECUTIVES MediaToday is a media company involved in the publication of newspapers, magazines and TV programmes. These include MaltaToday, Illum, Gourmet Today, Xtra and Dwarna. Vacancies have arisen for sales executives. Experience in the sale of advertising space is an asset. Candidates for the job must be assertive, outgoing and in possession of a driving license. Only selected applicants will be summoned for an interview. Closing date: 14/07/2017 Please send your applications to: The Managing Editor MediaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN9016 Or email: info@mediatoday.com.mt PL deputy leadership: Fearne pitches health results, closeness to Muscat Health minister Chris Fearne dismisses leadership ambitions, says he will pressure Joseph Muscat to backtrack on promise to step down at end of term 'We are all strong candidates who had formed part of the success of the last government' 'All three candidates have been approved by Muscat' Chris Fearne launches his deputy leadership bid