Who did Dalli ring first – his wife or Joseph Muscat?

Published: October 24, 2012 at 3:55pm

Is this the new Mrs Dalli?

At a press conference yesterday, reported on the TVM evening news, Joseph Muscat was asked how he got to know of John Dalli’s resignation.

He said that Dalli rang him personally. Then he paused briefly. “Yes, he rang me at five o’clock on Tuesday”.

At that time, Dalli had just come out of his meeting with Barroso and other officials, having been stripped of his job as EU Commissioner. In a situation like that, our choice of the first person we ring says everything about the nature of our relationship with them.

His first thought was to ring Joseph Muscat, though in the few minutes that elapsed between leaving the meeting and ringing Muscat, he had enough time to ring his wife and daughters and might well have done so.

Why did he feel the need to ring Muscat immediately? Muscat is the leader of the Opposition. He is not the prime minister or the leader of the government which nominated him.

Dalli rang Muscat because for the last few years he has been cooperating closely with him, and not only on Sargas but on securing an electoral loss for Lawrence Gonzi.

Why did Muscat make a point of telling the press conference the precise time at which Dalli rang him? That isn’t normal behaviour. Ordinarily, you’d say ‘he rang me on Tuesday evening/late on Tuesday afternoon’ and not ‘yes, he rang me at five o’clock’, unless you are on the witness stand in a trial, answering questions by the prosecution.

Muscat gave us the time because he wanted to let us know that he was Dalli’s first port of call. Political astuteness (which would have meant not letting us know, because it gives away too much) was trumped by the ‘arani, Ma’ desire to boast about how important he is, so important that the disgraced ex Commissioner rings him first to break the news that he is now a disgraced ex Commissioner.




38 Comments Comment

  1. Harry Purdie says:

    Little Joey’s thought(less) process agan comes to the fore.

  2. Miss O'Brien says:

    A bromance of the worst kind.

  3. aston says:

    The problem with hitching rides on bandwagons is that they may not always be going where you hoped, and if you’ve gotten it seriously wrong, you might have chosen the riderless one about to plunge off a cliff.

  4. Cloud 9 says:

    How can we trust these individuals.

  5. T.M. says:

    True, true, all true. Joseph’s behaviour was so obvious, showing how IMPORTANT he is.

    It is nothing else, but DISGUSTING. Disgusting behaviour from the two of them. Xi dwejjaq ta’ nies.

  6. Insolja says:

    Did Dalli inform the Prime Minister of his resignation before or after 5 o’clock on Tuesday?

    • maryanne says:

      Simone Cini: Kif inhi r-relazzjoni tieghek mal-PN?

      John Dalli: Mhix tajba.

      • Angus Black says:

        Imissa staqsietu, “X’inhi r-relazzjoni tal PN mieghek”?
        “Iriduni nisparixxa kemm jista jkun malghajr”.

        Ain’t that the truth, and the sooner the better.
        The NP continues to purge itself of the undesirables. Let them all hop into Joseph’s skip.

    • anthony says:

      Dalli did not inform his PM either before or after 5 o’clock on Tuesday.

      He did not inform him at all.

      He could not, could he.

      It would have been too hard for him to inform Gonzi that he had even managed to fuck up his prison sentence in Brussels.

      Besides he would have known that the Maltese PM would have been informed by the President’s office probably even before he was summoned for the meeting in that same office.

      That would be standard diplomatic etiquette.

      I would bet my last cent that Gonzi knew before Dalli that he was kaput.

  7. canon says:

    That was a slip of the tongue by Joseph Muscat. Such mistakes expose the immaturity of Joseph when talking to the press.

    • A. Charles says:

      Come off it; Dalli must have made a telegraphic length phone call to Muscat and a very long one to his family.

      Let’s give Muscat the benefit of the doubt.

  8. Hip Hip says:

    Qassata from Qormi.

  9. H.P. Baxxter says:

    He should have called Silvio Parnis first. John Dalli is over 60, and he’s just flushed his reputation down the toilet.

  10. Catsrbest says:

    I am bewildered and perplexed as to how much Mr Dalli hates the Prime Minister.

    On the other hand, the Prime Minister is only focused to get on with his job and harbours no reciprocal hatred. This has immensely increased my admiration for him.

    • Uninterested Bystander says:

      Whatever Dalli is, you can prefix it with EX-……

    • Ken il malti says:

      Johnny got himself tangled in a cobweb of mostly of his own making and he is now angry at the world because it is an easier thing to do than being angry at yourself.

      Dr. Gonzi is smart and kind enough to understand that.

  11. Village says:

    Dalli is engineering a malevolent plan to oust the Nationalist Party from its long reign in government.

    He is still green with envy after missing the boat for party leader in 2004.

    He lost the opportunity of a lifetime. He knew very well that had he become prime minister instead of Gonzi, his office would have benefitted from an unprecedented and crucial advantage coming the government’s way. A seven year EU budget worth 1bn euros.

    Joseph is resorting to all dirty tricks to strengthen his electoral chances even if this means having to promise who knows what to this group of rebels.

    • Angus Black says:

      “Dalli is engineering a malevolent plan to oust the Nationalist Party from its long reign in government”.

      Dalli by himself, cannot do that – only gullible voters can.

  12. Antoine Vella says:

    I would imagine, however, that Dalli hadn’t told Joseph Muscat he was being investigated. Had the PL known, they wouldn’t have paraded him quite so prominently on their media.

  13. George Grech says:

    Usually……first the wife then the mistress.

  14. ciccio says:

    Could it be it’s a matter o’laf between them?

  15. Uninterested Bystander says:

    One simple question, why believe anything any of these politicians say?

    They have been known to come out with the odd porky now and then.

    Sorry for being so skeptical.

    I don’t trust any of them.

  16. Ganna says:

    Dalli, ilu konfoffa ma Muscat, JPO, Franco, Mugliett,biex iwaqaw il-gvern.

    Dalli ried jaqsam il-partit, u dawn it-tlieta kienu diga konfermati. Dalli ried li Nazzjonalisti li hawn igergru, jivutaw il partit tieghu, b’hekk il pn jonqsulu l-voti, u b’hekk Dalli iressaq lil Labour ghat rebha.

    Jien nahseb li JPO meta mar independenti, kien hemm skop, hu qal jien il proposti elettorali jien nivota mal- gvern, igiefieri sal bagit li gej.

    Franco qal li mhux ha jivota favour il-bagit,u Mugliett kwiet.

    Jien nahseb wara il bagit Dalli Kien ha jghid li ha jiforma partit ghalih, u dawn it-tlieta kienu morru mieghu. Kieku ma marx zmerc id-deal, kien ikun hemm 60 miljun min fejn ihallashom talli ghenuh iwaqaw l-gvern. Ma jafx li hu jimponi, u Alla jidisponi.

    • Angus Black says:

      An interesting theory, but forming a political party, finding candidates and campaigning would take more time than what’s left of this mandate and besides without an electoral programme it would be next to impossible to make any headway, unless…

      Unless Karmenu Vella is writing not one but TWO election programmes. Money talks when there is any.
      Seems unlikely now.

  17. Ian says:

    Labour and its inimitable ability to shoot itself in the foot.

  18. Evarist Saliba says:

    This report confirms that John Dalli is not fit to represent the Nationalist Party, irrespective of any complaint that he may have against the partry and its leader. His attitude will not help him in his campaign to bolster his standing in Brussels, in what is being glibly called “Dalligate”.

    A more accurate name for the drama in Brussles would be “snusgate” because at the heart of the issue is the gate that the EU could shut tight against, or maintain ajar for, or open widely for, snus, with all the financial profit or loss that this would entail for the Swedish company that, being Scandinavian, is ipso facto accepted by prejudiced people, as snow-white pure. Let there be no mistake: the knives are out and casualties will result.

    The latest is Christiaan Timmermans, chairman of the OLAF supervisory board.

  19. AJS says:

    Muscat is playing with fire. What if Dalli is incontrovertibly linked to unethical and illegal practice? Wouldn’t that destroy Muscat too?

    • Village says:

      Muscat’s only aim is to secure a win for Labour. His only method so far is to inflict damage on the Nationalists even if it takes having to become a political prostitute with rebels like Dalli.

      He has no ideas or programme because he hasn’t anything new to say. Lets be fair, its not easy to propose a political programme that can match the economc achievements and prosperity the Nationalist have so successfully managed to accomplish.

    • Angus Black says:

      Not at all. Muscat harbours Dalli style have beens, embraces Mintoffianism and will stop at nothing, including throwing the country back to the 70s, just so as to become Malta’s youngest prime minister.

      As if that is of any consequence to the ordinary man in the street. He is just as vain as Franco, as opportunistic as JPO and as subtle as Mugliette. (mutu, mutu, qrunu f’butu).

      Hard as one can try, the LP just does not have anyone much better than Joseph. They had, but they could not see the forest for the trees. Much too late now.

  20. NICHOLAS ELLUL says:

    I wonder why the AG has sent the report to the Commisioner of Police.

    [Daphne – Because it’s the police who prosecute. Criminal cases are instituted by the police.]

    Surely Dalli doesn’t think that the AG is part of the conspiracy to frame him. Poor guy,first he lost his battle to become PM of the PN, thanks to Gonzi who saved Malta, now he is also being asked to resign from a position he was planning to make a nice future for himself, forget Malta.

    The EX is now in Brussels giving a press conference to prove his innocence without mentioning the fact that report is now in the hands of the POLICE. He will never stop at being greedy.

  21. lola says:

    Gonzi knew everything. He was being updated all along and Mr. Dalli knew about this.

    So no need to inform Gonzi. Remember that Dalli and Gonzi were rivals and the loser is always hurt.

    Gonzi offered him a post in Brussels in return and Dalli happily accepted it.

    He got a very good job thanks to Gonzi, but still they did not see eye to eye.

  22. elephant says:

    I think that now, the PN supporters and those who feel they are no longer PN supporters, should stop to think that this Dalli shame, should unite us all to ensure a strong vote in favour of the PN (under the leadership of Lawrence Gonzi) in the coming elections. I hope that the talk of a definite win for Labour will stop – for heaven’s sake.

  23. elephant says:

    Pondering on this very sad affair, I feel that people with a successful business in Malta get the idea that they can deal with giants – like say David dealing with Goliath.

    I just cannot understand how Zammit could have thought of pulling a fast one on Swedish Match. Was it perhaps he thought that the Swedes who frequented his restaurant, were one and the same as the big tobacco firms? It takes giants to deal with giants.

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