So now you're working for Super One, are you, Jeffrey?
Charlon, you must meet my friend Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando
I’m sorry, Jeffrey, but it’s becoming rather too obvious that you’re Consuelo Herrera’s New Best Friend.
Having known her for rather much longer than you have, I have these words of advice: your strings are being pulled, and it’s about time you woke up to the fact.
Consuelo doesn’t have friends.
She has chess pieces.
The magistrate is a past master – surely that should be mistress – of the fine art of manipulation.
You have to be a real sucker to fall for it.
Look what happened to Robert Musumeci, poor sod.
Part of her strategy is invariably to get ‘people’ to meet Charlon Gouder (“he’s really nice”; “he’s such fun”), and before he was kicked sideways, Jason Micallef, too.
Please don’t tell me you were silly enough to fall for all that bollocks.
And another thing, you ought to know that when you’re privileged enough to be invited to a meeting with the prime minister, you shouldn’t divulge who was there or what was said – and this even if you were not one of his politicians, let alone when you are.
Those who are winding the key in your back while hiding their identity (other disgruntled back-benchers, indeed – do they have names or even a backbone?) will end up hoist by their own petard.
Too bad they’ll take the rest of the country with them.
One of my greatest regrets is that I voted for you and stuck by you when everyone called for your resignation. It was a rare failure of judgement on my part. In retrospect, you didn’t deserve it.
You didn’t have the good sense or the decency to pick up the olive branch that was repeatedly held out to you, to gather your wits about you and get back on board.
No, you prefer playing to the Labour gallery instead, mixing with the people from Super One and Malta Today, and basking in Consuelo Herrera’s flattery. Well may it serve you.
Wheels within wheels within wheels – and yours, Jeffrey, has long since been punctured.
timesofmalta.com, this evening:
PL broadcaster stands by Giovanna Debono report
One News said today that it stood by a news story it carried yesterday that the Prime Minister had wanted to remove Giovanna Debono from her post as Minister for Gozo.
Reacting to a statement issued yesterday by the Office of the Prime Minister, the Labour Party station said its story had been substantiated by Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, who had said that last week he attended a meeting with the Prime Minister and his secretary during which he was told there were plans for Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said.
Dr Pullicino had reiterated today, after consulting his sources, that Mrs Debono was to have been moved to another ministry, but she did not wish to be transferred.
Dr Pullicino Orlando added that he had been told this even by other MPs.
One News said that while the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday denied its story, it did not deny a similar story carried on The Times on Tuesday morning.
PBS had also reported that Mrs Debono had a long meeting with the Prime Minister just before the reshuffle was announced.
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Dear Daphne, you are going to get into trouble, there is a limit for everything, beware!
[Daphne – I am not five years old, Carm, and you are neither my teacher nor my parent. You might have failed to gauge the situation correctly, with your typical Maltese head-beneath-the-parapet mentality, but I’m not the one who’s in trouble here.]
Wrong, Carmel – when one has the courage of one’s convictions, there are no limits. Malta would have been a better place had there been a few more Daphnes around.
And by the way…..the “personality” appearing at the most extreme right of the picture (cropped front), in a lampuka-blue dress is Labour’s new executive secretary, Lydia Abela, Joseph Muscat’s hand pick. The male hugger is Hugh Anastasi, and the female hugger is Jose’s canvasser and Consie’s former hassiela and friend, Doreen from Valletta – not to mention Jonathan Attard of Super One who defended Robert Musumeci (by using him as bait against the PN) during last Sunday’s special edition breakfast show on Super One, before the konferenza generali.
Is there any question as to whether these are compromising relationships, or may be compromising at some point? We have never seen other magistrates (whether men or women) in such mediocrity.
Hi Daphne, I am one of the readers who started getting into your blog when this magistrate’s saga got started. Apparently you’ve just watched the late night edition of One News (surely not a recommendable film to watch before going to sleep) and then got here to write this.
I share your thought that JPO is becoming the Labour Party’s and fatso Bedingfield’s greatest asset. Being myself a moderate Nationalist (yes, I think that adjective does suit me right), I think that the prime minister’s attention should be more focused on JPO than on Franco Debono.
The latter didn’t fall for One News’ temptation to leave them a comment regarding the PM’s minor reshuffle, while JPO is enjoying the habit of giving comments to the Labour Party media.
[Daphne – Tell me about it: the king of indiscretion. He should have a chat with his chum the magistrate about how careless talk costs lives, and generally one’s own at that. Loyalty? Integrity? Two words that are definitely not in these people’s dictionary.]
Having agreed about that fundamental aspect, I still do not manage to understand how you have managed to associate JPO with the magistrate. Personally, I’m not that much interested in what the magistrate is doing, I’m more interested in JPO as I follow local politics.
[Daphne – She’s been drawing him systematically into her net over the last year or so, and has also been courting his companion. This is not because, of all the people in Malta, she really, truly likes and wants to be friends with Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Carmen Ciantar (a very, very nice woman, by the way). It’s because she’s recognised him as the weakest link. The trouble over the St John’s Cathedral Museum saga began for him at a party thrown by ‘Consuelo and Robert’, where Jeffrey was the only Nationalist politician, and where the guest of honour was Joseph Muscat. They egged him on to say what he thought about the museum, challenged him to vote against, he said he would in a fit of bravado, couldn’t go back on his word even if he wanted to (and he probably didn’t want to anyway) and the rest is history. That’s what I mean about Magistrate Herrera and chess games. Her long-time wariness of me stems largely from the fact that I have ‘Not A Useful Chess Piece – I Can See Through You, Madam’ stamped over my forehead.]
I tend to associate JPO with a lack of loyalty, and the magistrate with a lack of integrity. But I find it difficult to associate both adjectives with both persons.
[Daphne – Jeffrey, in my view, has no integrity either. Nobody with an ounce of integrity would behave the way he has behaved, and we can no doubt expect more and worse. As for the magistrate, you’re right. She may have no integrity, but she is certainly as loyal as hell to the Labour Party and is serving its interests very well indeed. Bully for her.]
Also, the magistrate, being a public officer in high authority has to pay attention to her integrity, rather than to loyalty. Being a magistrate, is she obliged to be loyal to someone? It’s her business if she did not manage to sustain her marriage and get another famous person along her way.
[Daphne – No, it’s not her business, Kenneth. It’s everyone’s business, because the fall-out goes beyond the personal and private. Robert Musumeci is not ‘a famous person’. He is, or rather was, a politician. Had he been an actor or a bank clerk, there would have been a different slant on things.]
“She may have no integrity, but she is certainly as loyal as hell to the Labour Party and is serving its interests very well indeed.”
I’d do the same. Always fancied being a judge.
I cannot believe that the government could actually crumble, thanks to these assholes. We really deserve better. Consie is welcome to them. All one of a kind, u kollha ghandhom xi xommu.
The government is there THANKS to these assholes. Look how hard the party fought to keep JPO on board before the last election when it was apparent what kind of man he is. This government is a coalition of decent people with these assholes. The coalition is looking increasingly shaky.
Daphne, mhux ahjar ma tqajjimx kelb rieqed, eh ? X’tahseb?
Hallih ha jorqod bi kwietu isma minni. Ghax ihobbha l-attenzjoni u mdorri b’teatrini. Iktar ma tghamillu iktar jiehu gost.
How can a person be such a puppet? He has no right to undermine the prime minister. If it is something personal it should be dealt with as such; he should not act a puppet in the hands of manipulators.
I am afraid only one road is open: to give his seat to real person and he can continue to do whatever he likes doing best – posing as a knight in armour.
I think the end of this government is near ..very near. The prime minister is being stabbed in the back constantly by his fellowmen.
What will happen if Musumeci decides to go for the casual election and is elected? Will Gonzi be ready to discuss important matters with his cabinet with him around?
[Daphne – He can’t be elected. He doesn’t have enough votes.]
Election to parliament does not automatically mean a seat in cabinet. Isn’t that what the much fabled ‘back benchers rebellion’ (they’re all middle-aged, for heavens’ sake) is all about?
Knowing Jeffrey since our student years, I am finding it very difficult to associate him with the character coming out in the news. Unfortunately it has been some time since we had a chat.
I still do not believe Super One 100% and would expect Jeffrey to give his side of the story, but not to Super One.
Come on, Jeffrey, for the sake of all that we fought for together back in the 1980s, get your act together.
“One of my greatest regrets is that I voted for you and stuck by you when everyone called for your resignation. It was a rare failure of judgement on my part.”
Kmieni indunajt.
[Daphne – Oh, I noticed a long, long time ago, but he was given so many chances and I thought he would have the intelligence to take them up. But clearly not. Some people seem intent on committing political suicide.]
Actually I never quite understood why you were sticking up for him, Daphne. I had begun to think that you were becoming one of those “Nazzjonalisti sa ma mmut”.
I too am glad that iz-zejt tela f’wicc l-ilma – incidentally it always does. I know quite a few people who last elections did not vote because of two characters in the PN: Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Marisa Micallef.
[Daphne – Funny that. Marisa didn’t vote either. She sent a message saying she was tied up in London (not with Anthony Zammit tal-Labour, I imagine, given that he bats for the other team) and then came back after not voting and demanded jobs with the Malta Tourism Authority, ambassadorships, this, that and the other. Her estimation of her own value is remarkable – if very much off.]
I wonder how they’re going to vote at the next election? Finally, I don’t think Consuelo is doing all this out of “loyalty” but because she must have been promised something by Labour… being made a judge, perhaps.
[Daphne – She’d get that anyway. You know her as well as I do: she gets excited at the thought of moving people around and playing games. For a long time it was the only kick she ever got, but enough said about that.]
Prosit Daphne, kompli ikxef l-iskandli. Jien nixtieq naghtik skandlu kbir iehor tal-qorti fejn imdahhal avukat vicin hafna hafna ta’ mhallef. Jekk dejjem trid aghtini l-email address tieghek u niktiblek fil-qosor dan l-iskandlu li jiparteni fuq art li giet misruqa min dan l-avukat u imprenditur Malti.
Grazzi.
[Daphne – L-email address tieghi huwa pubbliku: [email protected]]
If I were Gonzi, I would call a general election now, tidy the party of its bad apples and prepare to govern again within maximum three years, the time it will take Muscat to go weeping to George Abela, abdicating from the responsibility of a prime minister which is infinitely beyond his limited competencies.
Lawrence Gonzi is not Alfred Sant, and the Nationalist Party is not the Labour goons. They have something called brains. Calling an election NOW means committing political suicide.
Let time decide the fate of the rebels, and yes they will have to face us very soon.
And we will never forget their shenanigans. We will tell them to their faces that they are now obsolete. The good of the country comes first and foremost and not their personal ambitions.
We will not be held to ransom by some goon who for his own personal ego, (being elected from 2 districts doesn’t give anyone any rights to dictate to their PM) tries to destabilise this country when we are facing economic hardships. We will never forget this.
I think we should worry more about what is happenning in neighbouring Greece rather than all these soap-operas. Joseph Muscat will wreck our economy in the same way his socialist friends did now in Greece after just five months in office. The next Mediterrenean Eurozone country in the pipeline is Zapatero’s Spain. For some strange reason Mediterrenean socialism is synonymous to economic armageddon.
“Joseph Muscat will wreck our economy”
Aided and abetted by opportunists in court …and outside.
Last I checked the bank-breaking Greek Olympics were organized by a centre-right government headed by Karamantis.
I see you don’t let facts get in the way of prejudice…
@ D Muscat
Please don’t be silly.
The Greek economy was wrecked by the previous government, not by the present Greek socialist party. So much so that their NSO figures were so badly screwed up by the previous administration they they were revised upwards to 12.7% after the election due to the figures being fiddled around with.
You don’t have to be some economic genius to realize that this doesn’t constitute wrecking the economy.
Certain PN backbenchers who had been severely attacked and reviled on several occasions and for various reasons day-in-day out by One TV and PL leading politicians are now appearing regularly on One TV and providing comments, generally negative, on the government, particularly on the Prime Minister who has become their main target.
The fact that they are doing this through the Labour media indicates their complete disloyalty, of which they should be thoroughly ashamed. It shows unadulterated immaturity, at best.
However, I feel that they are also trying to befriend themselves with Labour in order to avoid any potential action against them by a future Labour government because of what they have been accused of in the past.
What a prat! The backbenchers are acting like spiteful, spoilt three year-olds. You know, the type who’ll break your toys if you don’t let them play.
On the other hand, if the Prime Minister, after all that has happened, was naive enough to divulge confidential information in this git’s presence, then this doesn’t really say a lot about his judgement.
You are an honest person, Daphne, and that is what you are fighting for – honesty! Unfortunately, we have a long history of being silent and not daring enough to expose such matters.
Our tradition in “exposing” is only limited to politicians of the opposing party. Societies, governments and empires crumbled because they never faced, let alone tackled, the truth.
I know you do not need me to tell you that you are right, but Daphe, YOU ARE RIGHT all the way. It is when we allow personal manipulators to manipulate society and institutions for their own personal power and ego that we are really doomed, because that would be a straight path for all forms of corruption.
I cannot understand or link JPO’s fuss re Giovanna Debono alleged refusal to move to another ministry. Wasn’t he the one who refused a parliamentary secretary/minister role for personal reasons (financial package too low)?
[Daphne – Not that I know of. I certainly don’t think he was offered any of that at all. It would have looked like giving in to blackmail, arm-twisting and tantrum-throwing, and rewarding an undeserving and disloyal person just to shut him up. The strange thing is that he feels he is more deserving than anyone else, when quite obviously, he is one of the least deserving of all. And we’re not necessarily talking competence here, but steadfastness.]
He was offered the post of parliamentary secretary by Eddie Fenech Adami in 2003. He refused on the grounds that he could not live on the salary alone and he was not ready to break the law by working as a dentist while being parliamentary secretary. This was public knowledge at that time and it also showed him as an honest and upright person.
The reason that he refused the post of parliamentary secretary was simple. He wanted to become a minister immediately and be part of cabinet. As a parliamentary secretary he would have been under the responsibility of a minister.
Likewise, Giovanna Debono also refused other ministries offered to her by prime minister Fenech Adami. She wanted only one particular ministry and waited until that became available when Tabone failed to be returned to parliament.
@ P Shaw – on this one you are completely wrong – this was 2003, under Eddie Fenech Adami and his reasons made sense – three kids still at school with a thriving private practice cannot be compared with either a parliamentary secretary’s or a minister’s pay.
[Daphne – His wife, the children’s mother, is rolling in it. I think you forget that.]
Hi Daphne, did not understand what the “it” in your comment refers to.
Ara vera bla sinsla dan ir-ragel. What is he trying to do? I ask this question in sincerity – I really cannot understand what he is trying to gain.
Daphne, I admire your talent very much and wish you luck in all your forthcoming “battles”. I know you’ll make it and how!
If only Malta had more people like you; but alas!
However, I am dismayed by JPO. Of all people, should he be the one to rock the boat after what the PN did for him to save his integrity when faced with the “scandal” of Mistra and all those attacks by Super One?
Ried ikollok wicc!
Colluding with one’s political rivals against your own party is scandalous in itself. Is it possible that all those who voted for him in two districts are happy with this state of affairs?
[Daphne – Speaking for myself, absolutely not. I will never vote for him again, not even No. 10. But he will almost certainly be deselected at this rate, if he doesn’t drop out or dash off to Labour, where he will sit on the same benches as his wife, arch-conservative anti-divorce Catholic who lives with and has children by another woman’s husband, Marlene Pullicino. X’tahwid.]
I could never understand how you stood up for JPO during the whole issue. It was obvious that he is a person and a politician who thinks of his interests first.
Funny how this new crop of politicians are so different from the previous generation. Maybe having started their political career in Malta’s hardest times has a lot to do with the way they act.
The Tonio Borgs, Francis Zammit Dimechs, Michael Frendos and others, although one might not like their opinions (Gift of Life, protection of unborn in the Constitution) or the way they acted as ministers, these are people who are loyal to the party and to its values.
They are ready to take a bullet for the good of the organisation, and their primary loyalty is to the party, not to themselves and their pockets as it is for some of these young sods.
Character before petty policy, I say.
Yes but there was also Fenech Adami at the helm. Gonzi is not made of the stuff Fenech Adami was made of. Gonzi goes by ‘liking’ and has never earned the respect of those around him because he let them run riot.
Then once they had become totally corrupt he was embarrassed of them and left them out of the political campaign giving the impression that he was doing it all alone.
It was like the whole party belonged to him and Mrs. Gonzi. Lack of leadership leads to chaos. Fenech Adami may have had his faults but he was one hell of a leader.
Whether you like it or not Lawrence Gonzi is a success story. In political terms staying 9 to 10 years in office is an achievement. Moreover he is more similar to Fenech Adami than you think.
It would be really good to know if JPO was set up by the PM when he was invited for the meeting. If this is so JPO has made as the Maltese say an qassata of the whole issue and exposed himself for what he is. Good on the PM.
As if the prime minister would ever do anything like that. Don’t feed Jeffrey’s paranoia. It’s bad enough as it is.
Orlando exposed himself a long time ago.
The Times, today:
“In passing, Dr Gonzi told me he had plans for Chris Said. I took that to mean he was going to be appointed Gozo Minister,” Dr Pullicino Orlando said, insisting that both Mrs Debono and Dr Said were doing a good job in their respective portfolios and he respected them.”
I cannot understand how Jeffrey can’t see that the Socialist media are there to twist anything he might say, along with all the other facts and words they twist.
There is a hell of a difference between “took it to mean” as compared to being told that it really means a transfer.
Jeffrey, take a step back, stop trusting these “nice” guys and dolls at Super One and Labour – and start reflecting before you open your mouth. There are persons (and not on the PN side) who are trying to lure you to act in favour of their aims.
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has been the Labour Party’s biggest asset for a long time. It’s just they are too incompetent to know how to use it.
Although he was elected on two districts, I do not think that Pullicino Orlando is an asset to the PN. In fact, the polls indicated that the Mistra case lost votes to the PN in the last election.
His votes were emotional votes ‘taken away’ from other PN candidates.
It almost lost mine — I was only constrained by Alfred Sant. I’m sorry Pullicino Orlando made such a clown of himself these last few years. I’m sorry because I used to believe in his charisma … a long time ago.
I was astounded he got so many votes in the last election. Was it really a case of the party still giving him a push?
He had the option of lying low for a couple of years and proving he has the stamina for a long track. I wanted him to be back humbled and stronger. Not any more. Nothing personal, Jeff.
Politics is a decathlon not a sprint like some former young-PN party ‘stars’ seem to think. Alas it seems like the PL is following that same road.
Pride is the sharpest dagger a politician can fall on.
He should learn the meaning of hubris.
So Musumeci is out of the race, JPO as well. Louis Galea is not a minister. I wonder what this is all about and who will be running for Siggiewi on the PN side.
@Christine
Simple. Karol Aquilina, the Siggiewi vice-mayor and son of former Siggiewi mayor Nenu Aquilina, wants to be the new mayor and prospective Siggiewi MP now that Louis and Robert are out of the way.