Beppe Fenech Adami suggested early election after Libya crisis

Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami has revealed that he suggested that Lawrence Gonzi goes for early elections at the peak of the Libyan crisis in 2011, when Malta was the nerve centre of mass evacuations from the war-torn country.

READ Beppe Fenech Adami: Together we will get it right

Writing in MaltaToday on Sunday, the son of former PN leader, prime minister and president Eddie Fenech Adami carries out a post-mortem of the Nationalists' trouncing at the polls, but makes no mistake in pinpointing the weakness of the PN leadership at reining in its rebel backbenchers.

"Rumbling from the now notorious backbenchers (now all apparently embedded within the Labour fold) was gaining momentum. I recall telling colleagues that the Libya crisis had given Gonzi an opportunity to go for an early election and potentially win. My idea was not even considered. We were led to believe that appeasement of rebel MPs would pay off," Fenech Adami says of the first months of 2011 and the ensuing trouble in the backbench that followed that same year.

The 44-year-old MP, whose disdain of MPs Franco Debono and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando is no secret, hints at Gonzi's 'weakness' in dealing with his unruly backbench. "I recall telling him that what he was going through would secure him place in heaven. He'd smile back, visibly hurt but determined to keep steering the country in such challenging moments. With hindsight... the manner in which the rebel MPs were dealt with weakened the party."

Fenech Adami, widely believed to be a possible candidate for one of the top three posts of the PN's leadership after Gonzi formally steps down, also maps out his vision for the future of the party, saying the Nationalists must once again be in sync with people's aspirations and the catalyst of societal change.

"My vision for the party is that it remains the party which believes in the empowerment of every individual... nobody feels emarginated, where all opportunities are available to all, be it in education, work opportunities, business and social assistance."

He was one of the 11 MPs who voted against the divorce bill that had been approved by referendum in 2011, but Fenech Adami hints at his own mistake at underestimating the electorate's aspirations.

"We - myself included - have to understand, respect and accept opinions of others even if they are not mainstream... All human beings are equal and should be treated as so."

Fenech Adami however does not outline the unpopularity of the PN's opposition to the introduction of divorce and Gonzi's insistence to vote against the bill, as one of the reasons for the PN's dismal showing at the polls.

Instead he points his finger at such reforms piloted by erstwhile minister Austin Gatt such as the 'disastrous' Arriva transport reform and customer care at ARMS; Gonzi's and Mario de Marco's own MEPA reform that was perceived to have been 'unsuccessful'; as well as describing the admission to the mistake of increasing ministers' honoraria as having been "too late and unconvincing"; and that corruption cost his party "a number votes... the moment we lose the high moral ground, then the people will no longer feel an obligation to support us."