Missed The People vs Adrian Delia on Xarabank? Here’s the cheat sheet

Not the media bloodbath we expected...

Everyone feared the embattled PN leader was walking into a media nightmare that was impossible to stage-manage.

The ‘people’s tribune’ was predictable Xarabank: rather than face his accusers, Adrian Delia was fending off the usual dudes drunk on doing media – former MP Franco Debono, former PN radio jock David Thake, PN nobody Wayne Hewitt, former Azzjoni Nazzjonali hanger-on (and Labour switcher) George Tabone, and the otherwise self-effacing former GWU secretary Jeremy Camilleri.

Indeed, Delia got to enjoy listening to accusations against the Gonzi administration and Busuttil’s ownership of Egrant, and against the PN’s dependence on unofficial mouthpieces to punch down on their critics.

Adrian Delia (centre) with a photo souvenir of the memorable evening. L-R: Wayne Hewitt, Jeremy Camilleri, Delia, George Tabone, and David Thake
Adrian Delia (centre) with a photo souvenir of the memorable evening. L-R: Wayne Hewitt, Jeremy Camilleri, Delia, George Tabone, and David Thake

HERE ARE THE MAIN TAKE-AWAYS

1. Adrian Delia thinks he is assuming responsibility for the 2019 election drubbing

“There are different ways of assuming responsibility – you can either leave, or not leave on the first obstacle… I am obliged to see what is wrong, and what the change the PN has yet to make, is.

“The PN does not need another leadership election trauma. We need to heal those divisions in the party. But we must all be part of the solution. We must unite and do our best. Any leader will see those who disagree with him.”

2. Adrian Delia said he will resign if he loses the 2022 general election big...

Which means… that’s when Delia is bowing out (but hey, three years are like 150 weeks in politics…), unless it is some 15,000-vote trashing.

3. Former PN radio jock David Thake claims magnate Yorgen Fenech offered €50,000 to prevent David Casa from being elected

David Thake was on the 17 Black offensive, accusing the PN of being too close to Electrogas shareholders and 17 Black owner Yorgen Fenech, alleging that he had offered €50,000 to some PN official to make sure MEP David Casa is not re-elected. Delia said he was unaware of this, telling Thake to file his report to the police – if true, this could be a corrupt practice.

“I have no ties to Yorgen Fenech… none at all, neither now, nor in the past. But let’s not just bandy about these accusations – let’s talk, and my door is always open. Let’s fight this battle against corruption, not for the PN, but for the country and our children. Let’s fight it together. We are being alienated from this fight, by getting lost in factional infighting.”

4. Franco Debono called in via Skype from some foreign land…

What does it mean to be a Nationalist today? asked the former Nationalist MP Franco Debono, who happened to be abroad and seemed to be calling in from his hotel bedroom… “If we’re not going to accept that the problems of the PN hail from the lack of inter-generational change during 2008-2009, when it lost the European elections, we cannot make the right diagnosis of what’s wrong with the PN.”

With Debono clearly hinting at his own jettisoning from the party, Delia took the opportunity to apologise in the name of the PN for “the people it had hurt… on both sides.”

5. Telling Simon Busuttil to step down was “a rushed decision”

Delia says his move to sack Simon Busuttil from the parliamentary group over the Egrant conclusions was “a rushed decision”. Indeed, it exposed his utter weakness among MPs.

He used the admission to pump up his mission to have access to the Egrant magisterial inquiry report.