The Labour Party’s quagmire and breaching the ‘no beef’ barrier

Donald Trump’s impressive comeback in the US seems to have inspired the Labour Party’s special delegate Jason Micallef. The latter believes former prime minister Joseph Muscat will eventually make a comeback of sorts and destroy his foes – the Nationalist Party and its satellites like Repubblika, he told us, and all those who abandoned Muscat in recent years.

Whether Micallef was simply stating his wishes or parroting what Muscat has been telling his loyalists behind closed doors is a moot point at this stage.

What really matters is that someone, who today occupies a post within the Labour Party, is openly threatening Robert Abela and others that the time for payback will arrive. After he reads this Micallef will probably argue that his comment was not directed towards the PL leader and that MaltaToday is engaging in ‘spin’ – it’s the go-to word for politicians with their back to the wall. He can tell it to the marines.

Abela’s leadership is now being openly challenged by Muscat loyalists like Jason Micallef and Neville Gafa. They are agitators, who have gained a foothold within the PL’s administration and in true Trumpian fashion are waging overt war on their enemies inside and outside the party. The ultimate aim is to create chaos and instability with the intention of forcing a change in leadership. They already forced Abela’s hand over the summer on the choice of deputy leaders and other members of the administration.

This is a strategy that does not have a noble aim. Its only intention is to save Muscat’s skin. People like Micallef and Gafa believe Abela should have done more to protect his predecessor from criminal prosecution. And the problem is that Abela did try to entertain this immoral request earlier this year when he lashed out at the magistrate who was probing the Vitals hospitals contract and accused journalists of being part of the establishment. The Prime Minister tried to appease Muscat and his loyalists by playing the dirty game but instead ended up satisfying no one.

Now, the very same man Abela tried to assuage with the creation of a new party post is biting back. Abela has no one to blame but himself. Micallef’s appointment as a special delegate to oversee the implementation of the electoral manifesto was part of a quid pro quo arrangement that saw Micallef give up his bid to become deputy leader and pave the way for Alex Agius Saliba instead.

This game of appeasement has weakened Abela’s moral authority to stand up and fight. He allowed the serpent inside and it is now encircling him and slowly tightening its grip.

But Abela’s bigger problem is that he has lost the respect of a majority of ministers, who feel they cannot count on his backing when making important decisions. Abela’s knack to flip flop on decisions, such as the Jean Paul Sofia public inquiry, has left ministers unwilling to take bold steps.

The lack of friends in Cabinet partially explains why Abela will not take decisive action against Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri over the Amanda Muscat debacle. Bartolo and Camilleri are two of his loyalist ministers and at a time when his leadership is constantly being undermined, the Prime Minister can hardly afford to lose more friends. Doing what is right is no longer a priority. Indeed, the Prime Minister ditched righteousness long ago when he tried to appease Joseph Muscat.

In this quagmire, it is no wonder that voters are switching off and turning their backs to the Labour Party. Today’s survey shows that despite a relatively good budget that should give middle class Malta a reprieve, the PL and the PN are still very much neck and neck.

The Labour Party must realise that its hold on power has been diluted. People are no longer willing to close an eye to wrongdoing. The Clayton Bartolo affair stinks and no tax cut will be enough for people to forget how his wife was given a very generous salary increase for a job she never did. In these circumstances, the Labour Party must realise that voters are fast running out of patience and a point will come when they will cross the psychological barrier where they would prefer anyone but Labour, even if that anyone is someone who lacks beef.