It gets worse: Mini-Mintoff threw a tantrum for some Isle of MTV tickets
Have you noticed – I certainly have – that the people who had a sneaking (not Labour voters) or overt (Labour voters) admiration for Dom Mintoff are the very ones who like what they see in Franco Debono?
And that those who despise/d Mintoff are the same ones who now despise Franco?
The visceral reaction to Franco, in people like me, is because he pushes all our conscious and subconscious Mintoff buttons. The thing with this man is that if he hadn’t been born into a Nationalist family, then he would have found his natural home in the Labour Party. He would have been in his element with that lot.
There are some differences, of course. I can’t imagine Mintoff making a scene because his free Isle of MTV tickets were late. Or even wanting to go to an Isle of MTV concert in his 30s.
This report was in The Malta Independent, yesterday.
FRANCO DEBONO LAMENTS ON VIP TICKETS, BUT INSISTS ITS ALL ABOUT NECESSARY REFORMS
by Francesca Vella
Nationalist MP Franco Debono denied yesterday that he is being used by the Labour Party, saying that he didn’t expect anything from Labour, and reiterated that he will definitely not contest an election on the PL ticket.
Meanwhile, sources told this newspaper that Dr Debono threatened not to vote in parliament because he was not given VIP tickets to the Isle of MTV concert a few years ago.
Asked about this, the MP initially said he didn’t want to comment, but he called back soon after, denying that he ever threatened the government over Isle of MTV tickets.
“However, you should look into who was and who was not given VIP tickets. This is about being given the wrong kind of treatment,” he said, adding that he had called someone at the parliamentary secretariat for tourism to ask about the tickets about two months before the concert (as do other MPs, who book tickets for themselves and their families, he said) and that he had eventually picked them up at the entrance. (…)
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Daphne, you should hear about the way he behaved during the actual concert, when he was not allowed into the VIP area.
Tell us more. Where did he chuck his beer?
The PN should do a better screening of its candidates. Put it down as one big lesson learnt.
Better screening? Franco Debono is a successful lawyer, well-known in his Labour-fortress district and very (too) determined in getting his way which, until the past couple of years, happened to largely coincide with what the PN also wanted, i.e. win the elections.
I don’t expect candidates to be psychoanalysed before being accepted. If we were to weed out all the slightly megalomaniac, over-ambitious ones we would end up with precious few candidates.
Perhaps you do not appreciate the gravity of the situation, Antoine.
This is not about being slightly megalomaniac or over-ambitious.
I have been following Maltese politics for a while and of all the hundreds of candidates and MPs, I can only recall one whose behaviour matches that of Debono – Dom Mintoff.
Being a successful lawyer does not figure in this. And it’s not a case of errant behavior after an accidental bump on the head a couple of years ago or so either. The signs were there long before that.
Riff Raff,
Franco’s spiel was that sprightly internal dialectic improved the party’s following in Labour held districts.
Nobody expected Franco would start believing he’s the party. One of his tactless moves was when he kept sending PQ’s by post to every household in Zurrieq to show how he was keeping up the pressure on a number of projects.
Problem is, he started to subscribe to Labour’s mentality and ignored their obstructive agenda, taking on their lies as legitimate arguments.
He also made it a point not to listen to his constituents regarding his methods. Basically confusing politics with his defence tactics used in court, his ideas became the client to absolve at all costs.
I have no doubt that the P.N does screen its prospective candidates. Maybe they just needed him, they used him, and later tried to dispose of him.
Unfortunately it didn’t work out as they thought. They found out he is a harder nut to crack than they thought, and are now reaping the fruit of their bad judgment, with all its consequences.
[Daphne – No Franco, the Nationalist Party had stopped doing checks on its prospective candidates or even screening them for psychological problems. They didn’t even know that Robert Musumeci was having an affair with Magistrate Herrera, while posing as a family man, when they allowed him to stand on their ticket in the last general election. The Nationalist Party didn’t know and I did – and I wasn’t even a friend of either of them. Apparently, that shortcoming has now been addressed.]
The signs where already there back in May 2008 when Malta had, and I quote ‘a parliamentary democracy worthy of a place in the sitting room of the best democracies in Europe and the world’. Now of coarse, Franco says otherwise just because he wasn’t made minister. X’Assassin!
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/05/18/n4.html
PS. Back then Malta Today made fun of his ‘pretentious self’.
I’m looking through old newspaper articles about Franco Debono and I now understand that the problem is almost four years old.
I realize that the PM couldn’t do much about Franco but appease him and try to work with him, but I can’t help but find this unacceptable. This government has been kept hostage for 4 years.
The crisis that the PN is facing now was bound to happen. How did the PN let such a person through its ranks and allow him to gain so much power?
Quite frankly, now that I’ve just understood this, I feel very disappointed. And I can’t help but demand an election now because I don’t think I’ll tolerate one more second of this.
I mean, we’ve been living under a totalitarian government headed by General Franco. Utterly unacceptable!
The problem is *37* years old.
I’m beginning to feel sorry for Mari tad-drappijiet.
“The thing with this man is that if he hadn’t been born into a Nationalist family, then he would have found his natural home in the Labour Party. He would have been in his element with that lot.”
You said the same about Jeffrey Pullicino (Orlando). I’m beginning to think that main criterion for sending people to Labour (or to hell, with which you appear to equate Labour) is whether or not you find them irritating.
[Daphne – I find several people in the PN irritating, Reuben, and I write about them regularly. But I never say they should join Labour. No, there are certain behavioural traits – bullying, throwing your weight around, vulgarity on television, trying to shout people down in a discussion – which are associated with Labour. In the past few years, only Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Franco Debono have behaved like this. Yes, they really are very Labour, and that is precisely why they are at odds with the party on whose ticket they stood for election. They don’t fit the party. They are there out of tradition and habit, not out of choice. When I first met Franco Debono, he rudely insisted on spending the best part of half an hour telling me that he is more Nationalist than anyone else and certainly more Nationalist than me (you know, because I come from a family of Stricklandjani). I wasn’t rude enough to point out in return that people like me, who have had to make their own political choices, make them on policies and attitudes and not on family tradition, and so their choices are more reliable because they are the choices of conviction. ]
I come from a family ‘vecchio stampo’ and use Franco’s argument with Stricklandjani to pull their leg during some dinner, when the port and amaro have been passed around.
Both schools of thought are united on one thing.
Never again another Mintoff.
That is what makes the modern PN, the right mix of people who belong to the country’s borghesia, unfettled by class hate, let alone history.
Labour has been trying so hard to get a piece for itself, getting those who prefer the division instead.
Kemm bata miskin.
Xi tbatija, miskin. Ma jaghmluhx fuq bordijiet jew kumitati sura ta’ nies, u biex taxxaqa, l’ anqas biljetti ghal Isle MTV ma tawh. Il-vera povru, jahasra.
Indeed, I witnessesed a conversation between two rabid Mintoffjani and they were going on and on about how Franco is a gem and that the PN would be fools to lose him. Unbloodybelievable!
Unbloodybelievable indeed! The scariest part is that these morons may succeed in electing their beloved party in government. Simply mentioning it gives me the shivers.
Dr Debono, apart from recommending himself continuously, does everything with a view to getting some position or greater exposure for himself.
He wanted to split the ministry of justice and the interior so that a vacancy would be created and he would be made Minister of Justice.
A man for others?
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=138006
My goodness, our Franco Wonder Boy – where would we be without him?
Well well well…his political correctness and his honesty leave me speechless.
After watching him on Bla Agenda and Bondi+, I’ve come to the conclusion the poor guy needs a real break, rather than a lucky break.
Real politicians don’t say “give me my sweets or I’ll ruin your day”. They don’t play at politics to get what they want personally.
Get off our backs, Franco.
” …. and reiterated that he will definitely not contest an election on the PL ticket.”
Of course he will not contest on a PL ticket, but not because HE is not interested. It is because Labour would probably rather commit collective hara kiri than have him on board.
Just look at the probable PL candidates for the coming elections. It’s not exactly a collection of brilliant brains, but I have no doubt that the PL ensures they 1) are potentially popular, and 2) are and will continue to remain loyal to the party.
This guy even thinks that the PL would countenance the notion of having him on board. Next thing you know, he’ll be telling us that henceforth the sun will start rising from his ass rather than the east.
I have reliable sources who confirmed to me that Franco actually threw a tantrum and threatened not to vote in Parliament unless he was given VIP tickets for the MTV concert.
This was a couple of years ago, soon after his election as an MP.
Can you imagine, threatening the government that you won’t vote unless you get complimentary VIP tickets for a concert intended for people a generation younger than you are?
His ego surely has the appetite of an elephant. It has been crystal clear from day one. Franco’s election to parliament has been all about himself.
Normal tantrums thrown every time he is not allowed entrance or is not given VIP treatment, such as when going away on private holidays.
What are the odds that some of those thousands of SMSes he sent the prime minister threaten him with hellfire unless he intervenes and gets him VIP tickets or permission to use the airport VIP departure lounge.
Baqalu zmien imur l-Isle of MTV.
You have to understand that he was brought up as a mummy’s boy apparently and whatever he asked for was immediately handed to him or else he would stamp his feet and cry.
I’m speechless.
A directive from the Vatican: when Franco dies and is immediately declared a saint, skipping the beatification process and even the need for miracles, he will be made the Boss of Saints.
San Boss.
When I read such articles I realise that politicians like Dr.Debono get involved into politics only for their own benefits and satisfactions. They don’t care at all about the country and the citizens, not even about those who voted for him.