‘Back the prime minister’ is Labour ministers’ line to take on Facebook

Various government ministers have taken to Facebook to dispatch posts pledging loyalty to Prime Minister Robert Abela in a week that betrayed the Labour administration’s disjointed unity.

Ministers Owen Bonnici, Clint Camilleri, Jo Etienne Abela, Clifton Grima, and Chris Bonett were among those who issued terse or verbose messages of support for Abela.

The upshot was that Jason Micallef’s bid for deputy leader for party affairs had turned into an affront to Abela’s authority.

Many of the ministers pledged support to Abela by saying Labour had to remain a big-tent party appealing to a wide array of voters.

“We must remain the natural choice for the middle class, for people who want Malta to continue changing for the better, and for families who want a government that creates the necessary environment to realise their ambitions,” arts minister Owen Bonnici said.

“We must be the natural choice for young people… to achieve this we must look forward, not backward. We need to build stronger bridges, open doors wide… that’s why I am determined to continue giving my utmost to Robert Abela.”

READ ALSO: Labour Party fears Joseph Muscat takeover by proxy

Many of the messages had a similar tone.

Gozo minister Clint Camilleri name-dropped Labour’s ‘pale red’ voters as part of its broad appeal, and called on delegates to make a stark decision: “whether to be the party of a few and possibly in opposition like before 2008, or the movement that attracts the masses of people of good will…”

2008 was the year Labour, under Alfred Sant as leader, and Jason Micallef as secretary-general, lost the election by 1,500 votes.

Yet Micallef was voted on again as secretary-general in 2009. When Joseph Muscat became leader, he decided to abolish the elected post and hand-pick a CEO.

Education minister Clifton Grima called for party unity. “That’s why it is important for all of us to unite behind the Prime Minister to ensure that our challenges, which may seem insurmountable, are addressed for the better of all the Maltese and Gozitan people.”

Transport minister Chris Bonett echoed the same line: “We need to be more united than ever. Every time we were united and organized behind the leader, we always emerged victorious, and so it will be again.”

Labour’s bad week and the Muscat factor

A Cabinet meeting to discuss the fate of former minister Edward Scicluna – now suspended on half-pay from his role as Central Bank governor after a magistrate said he would face trial in connection with the Vitals hospitals procurement fraud – revealed frayed relations within the Labour team last week.

The week was topped off by Jason Micallef, Labour’s last secretary-general before the post was abolished in 2009, announcing his bid to contest for the post of deputy leader for party affairs. Abela’s reaction, in a Lovin Malta interview was undiplomatic, suggesting delegates should not “turn the clock back” but ensure the party “appeals to moderates”.

The common denominator is simple: Joseph Muscat, with Jason Micallef doing his bidding to keep the party within the shadow of the overbearing, and much loved former leader, now facing corruption charges.

READ ALSO: The Muscat machine humming in the background

The disgraced former prime minister is facing charges alleging corruption in the award of the hospitals’ privatisation contract to Vitals, with former ministers Edward Scicluna and former deputy prime minister Chris Fearne dragged into the mire over alleged dereliction of duty.

Many times before Muscat responded to the magisterial inquiry into Vitals and a humiliating police raid at his house in 2022 with a threat: to “make more noise”.

When the leaks from the unpublished Vitals magisterial inquiry appeared in the press and detailed his secret business, Muscat launched his campaign, first with interviews with loyalist Manuel Cuschieri declaring war on ‘freemasons’, then attacking the leaks and attempting to recuse Magistrate Gabriella Vella. When he was charged earlier this year, he went on F Living to fire the first shot across the bows and promise a long drawn-out ‘war’ for his detractors.

Now Jason Micallef’s announcement that he is contesting the election for deputy leader party affairs has left many in Labour fearing a Joseph Muscat takeover by proxy.

These fears were further compounded on Saturday when Labour propagandist Manuel Cuschieri appeared to pitch his tent behind Micallef by provocatively asking followers whether they preferred a deputy leader who is an MP or minister, or someone who is “solely dedicated” to the party. 

READ ALSO: Robert Abela on Jason Micallef | 'When your time is up, don't come back'