What went on in Labour’s executive: ‘Everyone is to blame but himself’

Robert Abela gave Housing Minister Roderick Galdes a bashing during a meeting of the Labour Party’s executive and parliamentary group that discussed Saturday’s election debacle.

But the Prime Minister blamed “everyone and everything but himself” for the PL’s dismal performance, according to party sources, who spoke to MaltaToday in confidence.

The joint meeting was held on Monday evening, 24 hours after the result of the European election showed the PL going below 50% for the first time since 2009.

Galdes was singled out by Abela over the Siġġiewi social housing fiasco that saw the law courts reversing the ministry’s attempts to register 99 voters on flats that were still being finished.

Sources said a furious Abela accused Galdes of being surrounded by “incompetent people”.

A source expressed pity for Galdes. “He may not be the most competent minister and the manner how he was singled out was unfair but wasn’t it the Prime Minister who appointed him in the first place?”

Out of touch administration

In what was described as a tense meeting, Abela also blasted his party’s administration for being out of touch with members and committees. It was at this point that deputy leader for party affairs Daniel Micallef announced he was going to step down from his post.

The sources said the party administration was nowhere to be seen and felt. “Daniel Micallef is more interested in his professional work; Randolph de Battista has failed to reach out to section committees and Ramona Attard has had little impact,” the sources said, adding that the party relaxed too much. “We believe we will always win and that is a big mistake,” the sources said.

Turning to his parliamentary group, sources said Abela wanted his government to focus on key points which are a thorn in the side of the electorate and which he said punished the PL.

Blaming Vitals but not himself

The Prime Minister mentioned overpopulation and the environment as two issues the government had to dedicate more time to.

However, sources said the Prime Minister also blamed the arraignments linked to the Vitals hospitals inquiry as a reason for the loss of votes.

But sources who spoke to this newspaper said Abela left everyone confused over the Vitals saga since he had been the one to attack the judiciary in the first place.

“It was typical of the Prime Minister. It shows a lack of strategy. How can Robert Abela blame the Vitals saga without pointing a finger towards himself? Wasn’t he who attacked the judiciary? After allowing Joseph Muscat free reign to energise the grass roots, which are largely unhappy with Robert Abela, how can the Prime Minister now blame Vitals without admitting his own fault? How was it even possible to have the Justice Minister openly criticise the behaviour of the Attorney General?”

The sources said the lack of strategy over the Vitals saga confused voters and while the hardcore may have been energised by the shenanigans involving Muscat, the attack on the judiciary and the contents of the inquiry may have put off moderate voters.

Abela’s frequent U-turns leaving ministers paralysed

The sources said Abela’s frequent U-turns were leaving ministers unable to make decisions. “The more competent ministers are afraid to take decisions because when they feel they have the PM’s backing they are unsure whether Abela will change his mind sometime later,” the sources said.

However, there was no hint of this criticism during the internal meeting. "A majority of ministers never speak up, possibly because of their limited capabilities, while the more competent ones are not even bothering to voice their criticism," one of the sources said.

Another blamed the malaise on Abela's lack of leadership. “The loss of votes is down to many issues but central to all of them is a lack of leadership, lack of strategy, lack of teamwork and the absence of the party from localities.”

Hanging over the already dismal result in the European election, is the expectation of a second round of losses in the local council elections.

The PL is bracing itself for several localities to go blue. “Especially in the central and northern harbour areas, we will lose councils,” a source said.

Local council election results will be known between Wednesday and Friday.