PN Secretary General accused of bigotry and xenophobia by former candidate

Former PN candidate David Thake referred to Secretary General Clyde Puli as a ‘bigot’, and a ‘xenophobe’ in a drawn-out Twitter feud

Former PN candidate David Thake referred to Secretary General Clyde Puli as ‘corrupt’, a ‘bigot’, and a ‘xenophobe’ in a drawn-out Twitter feud
Former PN candidate David Thake referred to Secretary General Clyde Puli as ‘corrupt’, a ‘bigot’, and a ‘xenophobe’ in a drawn-out Twitter feud

Former Nationalist Party candidate David Thake took a swipe at the party’s Secretary General Clyde Puli on Twitter, calling him a “bigot” and a “xenophobe”.

The tiff arose after Puli shared an article published by the Times of Malta and written by PN leader Adrian Delia, in which he said that the “prospect of an uncontrolled influx of illegal migrants provokes people’s tolerance and turns it into fear.”

“Political leaders should not fan those Flames, Mr. Puli,” Thake wrote in a reply.

After citing free speech as a defence, Puli called Thake a “comedian” when the latter asked him how many salaries he is receiving from the government.

“A comedian for a leader? Way better than a bigot and a xenophobe for a Gen Sec,” Thake tweeted.

In a separate tweet, Thake said that those who “ignore a party statute in order to dictate candidates to the Executive Council” should resign and that “fighting against corrupt politicians is more important” to him than “trying to appease them.”

Following a survey by MaltaToday earlier this month which showed the trust gap between the two party leaders widen yet again, Thake took to Facebook to call for Delia’s resignation.

“The logical way out for any self-respecting politician would be to acknowledge that the race is already lost with these numbers unless the leadership is changed and to resign,” he wrote.

“Instead of doing this they rally their rabble to harass, insult and troll anyone who disagrees with their dear leader. The only logical conclusion is that either the current leadership are after own personal glory, or they are an extension of the Labour Party’s hold on power."

According to the MaltaToday survey, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s trust rating now stands at 52.6%, while Delia’s has slipped to 23.5%.