This is not just any old backbencher
I was right
When Alfred Sant wrote an ‘I told you so, VAT is wrong for Malta and we shouldn’t have joined the eurozone’ piece for It-Torca last Sunday, reporters asked Joseph Muscat whether he agreed with him and whether this is the Labour Party’s official line.
Muscat dodged the question by saying that when the prime minister is asked about the dissenting views of Nationalist MPs, he claims they are part of the rainbow of opinions that is his party. So why can’t he do the same, Muscat wanted to know?
I’d say the answer to that is simple: the prime minister doesn’t have any former prime ministers or former party leaders sitting on his backbench.
Alfred Sant is not just any old MP. He was party leader for 16 years and prime minister for 22 months. Muscat has the same problem with him that Sant in turn had with Mintoff: the belief that they are still the boss because they ran the show for so long.
And just as Sant couldn’t corral Mintoff, shut him up or bring him on side, so Muscat now has to contend with Sant carping against VAT, against the European Union, and especially against the eurozone, which kind of undermines the Europhile message he is trying so hard to transmit.
It is not so much a rainbow of views as a bunch of ferrets in a sack.
This is excerpted from my column in The Malta Independent on Sunday today.
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The problem is not only Dr Sant but also Dr T Abela and Dr Farrugia. Rather I should rephrase as the problem is actually and patently obvious Dr Muscat who is increasingly ceding to their influence. Hence we hear the innanities such as reckless veto wielding and pathetic electoral reform proposals. Personally I am positive that these are the brain child of Toni.
By the way, I cannot understand why people would have to show an airline ticket and also take an oath in order to vote early. If one produces ample proof (ticket or what have you) there is no need for an oath for it actually diminishes its solemnity.
Standing by for more anal thinking by Labour’s think tank.
A leopard never changes its spots.