Jason Azzopardi seems to be keeping the Opposition going single-handedly, while his leader visits every village feast he can and the rest of them aestivate
Yes, Jason Azzopardi is the ‘shadow minister’ for the police, but why is he being left to do all the work on the Manuel Mallia/Silvio Scerri/Charles Iz-Zambi scandal alone?
Is Simon Busuttil too busy uploading pictures of village feasts and his capuccino on Facebook? Or is he too busy avoiding confrontation?
Perhaps it’s better that he stays out of it. The last time Busuttil got involved in tackling a scandal (Police Minister Manuel Mallia and his head of secretariat, Silvio Scerri, sitting in on interviews for the Secret Service), he made a complete pig’s ear of it.
He allowed the prime minister and Manuel Mallia to use him for a public show of dominance and one-upmanship – and worse, to give his ‘certificate of approval’ to their shambolic behaviour – in a staged appearance on the Auberge de Castille stairway, in which the PN leader actually said that the PM had assured him that everything is fine (so that’s all right, then).
The Malta Independent reported on 2 July:
Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said that he was given assurances by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on the Security Services operations, emphasising that the Security Service was and is still is one to have faith in.
In a joint press conference held today on the steps of Castille following a Security Committee meeting lasting two hours, both Dr Muscat and Dr Busuttil, who were accompanied by Home Affairs Minister Emmanuel Mallia, shared the same reaction, both assuring the public that the Security Services can be trusted and should enjoy everyone’s respect.
Dr Busuttil said that he raised a number of concerns which were all addressed.
God, what a stupid thing to do. How strategically ignorant. This sort of thing makes me sweat blood. Note to Simon Busuttil: In politics, never be a gentleman with those who are not. It’s not a level playing-field and you will lose. Dahluk u harguk mill-but, literalment. Note too that gentlemanly behaviour is not the same thing as maintaining integrity. It is not even the same thing as correct behaviour. The correct (even gentlemanly) thing to do in such a situation is to assume that you are dealing with scum and behave accordingly.
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http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130824/local/azzopardi-demands-chief-of-staffs-resignation-as-mother-of-wrongly-accused-man-makes-sworn-declaration.483387
And to think that he promoted himself as the best leader contender by saying he knows what makes Muscat tick having worked alongside him in the EP.
Every time he uploads a photo of another feast on Facebook I can’t help thinking ‘sar qisu mejda tal-qubbajd’.
I agree and have also noted that Jason Azzopardi, who was never one of my personal favourites, is indeed working hard. Since the last election , he has been the only evidence of blood pulsing in the opposition’s comatose veins.
To use Debono’s terminology, Simon Busuttil has indeed locked himself in an aquarium and is fast losing popular support.
It is better to be seen doing something than nothing at all, or worse still, playing ball with the government. It’s not that I favour divisive politics, very much to the contrary in fact, but I do believe that a spade should always be called a spade.
So do keep it up Jason, as you are trumping the Nationalist leadership trinity + secretary general. You and Daphne have been the only real sign of an opposition, even though Daphne does it entirely on her own account and not on behalf of any party.
Agreed.
Jason Azzopardi seems to be the only one willing to uphold the axiom that Labour cannot be trusted and still avoid sounding conceited. OK, so he’s been lumped with the most spectacular brief of the lot, however the fundamentals at stake demand a single unified voice.
Confrontation requires objective discernment and the conviction this country deserves better.
If they go on like this, Franco Debono’s mindset will be absorbed in toto. Which is why Debono was particularly vicious with Simon.
This is not the place for two-minute speeches, translators at the ready.
I thought Simon Busuttil was going to be a good thing for the PN.
So far it’s been a disaster. He’s looking way out of his depth.
Typical of Simon Busuttil: after the election result came out he publicly announced that the defeat did not come about through any fault of his.
He would have only been too pleased to absorb all the praise and honour had the election results produced a PN victory, however.
Alas the writing was on the wall. It was a mathematical certainty that the people had had enough of the daily scandals in oil procurement, Wasteserve, institutionalized corruption, gross mismanagement, fiscal persecution, direct orders to the tune of millions to the blue-eyed boys in the inner circle and this invariably, had been spelled out in a string of opinion polls.
In spite of all of this, Busuttil contested the deputy leadership for a party riddled with problems, completely insolvent with absolutely no direction, took the brunt of it all and made a huge, irreparable dent in his career.
Mhux Joseph u Manwel biss dahluh u harguh mil-but, but even his PN counterparts who chose to slaughter him politically like the sacrificial lamb, let him roast, giving them time to purge themselves from years of political rot.
A career, I must add not too brilliant after nine whole years at European level whining for burden-sharing and strengthening Frontex, being ignored on all fronts while our island state was being systematically invaded.
To be fair it must also be noted the the PN slows down on politics during the summer for a couple of weeks same at Christmas time and that is why the PN makes itself heard when important issues come up during this slow down period.
Not fit for the job
We need more than just assurance over the SS. I have heard a horrific account from a very reliable (and involved) source on the way the SS operated. It’s like they need to be reminded every other day that they cannot just feed the system with a list of phone numbers to record conversations on a 24/7 basis (with the exception of Blackberries, as it were – but perhaps that too had been ironed out).
You mocked Varist and il-Guy when they raised the issue a few years back. It caused the tiniest of ripples and everyone went back to sleep.
Don’t expect politicians to protect you from the SS. They fear it more than you do and can only hope that their own appointees won’t turn the system against them.
I consider Simon Busuttil a true gentleman, but his actions so far are proving my worst fears, namely that he is no match for the cunning Muscat.
Leadership qualities should not only include intelligence but also the ability of leading from the front and also the gift of transmitting confidence to your ‘troops’.
Unfortunately these abilities are still not evident.
If the Nationalist Party remains near comatose, we are going to have to start our own political party.
The DCGNotebook Party.
Excuse my language, but I knew Jason had b…s and he really is using them. Well done Jason, as to the rest you better grow them fast.
This is NET going to the dogs. Such a bad decision trying to compete with ONE who has a blindly loyal support base (as shown by professional surveys).
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130825/local/Switch-will-pitch-party-bulletins-against-each-other.483408
Jason Azzopardi is the only one presenting some real, effective, logical and consistant opposition to Joe Muscat’s band of troglodytes.
Simon Busuttil is hopeless. I lost my faith in him when he said “36,000 people can’t be wrong”. Ask the Jews if thousands – millions – cannot be wrong. The PN has no leader, is headed nowhere and Jason Azzopardi is the only beacon of shining light. Simon Busuttil is both weak and naive.
Has anyone noticed that Simon Busuttil’s job description on his Facebook pages stops at MEP? No mention of being leader of the opposition at all, so I’m assuming there’s not much pride in the post.
If he’s so nostalgic for Brussels he should just go back. It’s time for the opposition to have a leader.
Mario De Marco x’sar minnu?
Mario DeMarco was glad and relieved he wasn’t elected
I have admired Jason Azzopardi from the moment he was entrusted with ministerial (even though at a lower level) responsibilities. He has maintained my admiration in the opposition.
I hope that other politicians in his party will try emulate him.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
there is no opposition in the country…only THIS BLOG is the opposition to the government…that is why they want to silence you daphne!
i’m not exactly a fan of yours, but i can’t imagine if it wasn’t for your blog!
Where is Simon Busuttil? Anyone out there?
It was obvious from the very start that Simon Busuttil is a flop. 2018 will be a walkover for Labour.
When Simon Busuttil became PN leader, I watched him carefully.
Within a few weeks I concluded that he is no match for Muscat or the lot of them. He is more suitable in the European context, dealing with similar-minded counterparts.
He is too mild and civilised for Malta politics. The country will be better served with a hawkish PN leader.
…hawkish PN Leader? I doubt however, if the PN is capable of finding any such leader on board. Dr Eddie Fenech Adami was a great leader, but can hardly be called hawkish.
Let’s put it this way. If you had information about some misdeed, shameful behaviour, malpractice, corruption or the multifaceted manifestations of Labour’s benevolent rule, who would you send it to? The PN media or Daphne’s blog?
Because I know which one I’d choose.
Unfortunately, since “everyone knows everyone” in Malta, many people would not send that information at all for fear of punishment in some way. Thank God for Daphne and her network of spies, I don’t know what we’d do without them.
I don’t know what we’d do without HER. She’s the last voice of reason left in Malta.
I`ve been thinking exactly the same. It appears that Jason Azzopardi is all alone in criticizing the government, and he`s doing a bloody good job of it.
The rest of the Opposition needs to wake up. At this rate this incompetent government will walk away with murder.
The role of PN leader seems to have been imposed on Simon Busuttil.
He shows all signs of an uncommiteed leader doing his job half-heartedly.
For one minute, just try to imagine what would happen if a Nationalist minister casually announced that he had €500,000 in cash, or sat in on Secret Service interviews, or had meetings with very rich businessmen that present a conflict of interest, or was given priority at Mater Dei Hospital, or did any one of the countless things that have been done by the current government in the past few months.
He/she would have politically BUTCHERED over it.
What I can’t understand for the life of me is: why aren’t the PN being as vocal as Labour would have been? In fact, over many important issues, they’re not even being vocal at all and Daphne is doing a much better job of exposing the government than the Opposition is.
This whole situation started to feel so surreal when Franco Debono began to be taken seriously. Before then, I would never have imagined that a democratic society could be so unaware of what is going on, or worse, indifferent to it.
I also could not imagine that so many people, even people with a tertiary level of education, could be this stupid.
Looking back, I should have known it would turn out like this ever since the Nationalists let those Mintoffjani get voted back into power without a political beating (just imagine someone who was an accomplice in the abuses of Mintoff’s time trying to get voted in in England).
If the Nationalists start accepting ex-PL cronies (just like PL did with Debono and JPO) then that would be the last straw for me and I will not vote for them again.
He was chosen to be the leader, however unfortunate that decision is turning out to be.
Simon Busuttil would make a perfect EU Commissioner but he is not cut out for nose-bleed-inducing political brawls nor the deceit and constant back-stabbing that is part and parcel of national politics whether it be Malta or any other country.
This is not the stagnant and sterile politcs of the European Parliament where you have a café au lait et un croissant with anyone and everyone and where there is little need to look over one’s shoulder.
National politics requires ruthlessness and political tussles, constantly keeping the government to account.
Reaction time needs to be instantaneous unlike the European Parliament where MEPs have months to ponder the one two-minute paragraph they are going to read out to a largely empty parliament.
Conclusion, Simon Busuttil is not right for this job.
Yet another photo of a yet another festa from Simon Busuttil on FB today.
By all means go and be seen but do you have to post photos on FB and be seen to be doing virtually nothing else.
How disappointing.
As for the rest, apart from Jason Azzopardi, it’s as if they have fallen off the planet. Is it too much to hope that there is a real strategy here somewhere.
I agree. I’m sick of seeing Simon Busuttil’s photos of practically every village feast. At least, he hasn’t uploaded another photo of his coffee (yet).
in all fairness it was blatantly obvious to all that Mario Demarco was the only person fit for the job, but the party members decided otherwise.
At least in Mintoff’s time we had Eddie Fenech Adami giving people with an ounce of sense and a bit of hope.
Busuttil is pathetic at best and incompetent at worst. In the past 5 months despite the assaults on democracy committed by this government and by the Labour Party, including but not limited to the appointment of incompetent persons to sensitive positions (ambassadors, MEPA), the creation of new positions for those who had been promised payment in return for campaign services rendered (Willy Mangion, Frederick Testa) and the blatant disregard for human rights (pushbacks), the Opposition has been silent apart from a few weak press statements, rebutted by the government as though the Opposition is making a mountain out of a molehill.
This is both frightening and ridiculous. This is NOT the Nationalist Party, which seems to have as much trouble learning how to be in Opposition as Labour is having learning how to be the government.
Jesus Christ, Muscat, after being stopped from violating those poor souls’ human rights tells an EU commissioner “take them to your country” and the Opposition stands idly by and does not kick up a storm of protest to SHOW people here just how shocking it is for a prime minister to say something as rude, cheap and antagonistic as that.
Marlene Farrugia, a Labour MP, took a stronger stand against the government on this matter than the Opposition did. The way we’ll end up in five years’ time will not just be the government’s fault but also the Opposition’s.
God, I was so wrong. I really thought that Simon Busuttil would grow into the leader’s shoes. And I did so NOT like Jason Azzopardi. Apologies sir, for misjudging you.
You and Daphne appear to be our only hope. Daphne this is one of your best posts, a true assessment of the current situation within the PN, and of course Malta.
Exactly my thoughts.
I will give him a chance up till Christmastime when the budget debate ends.
My “excuses” for Simon Busuttil are:
1. he’s busy putting the party’s financial situation in order;
2. giving enough rope to Labour to hang themselves;
3. playing the same populist game Muscat played when the latter was in opposition.
I am hoping he will fall on Muscat like a ton of bricks when the holidays are over by starting his speech: “Your holidays are over…”.
Call me naive, but i believe there is a strategy and i have full faith in Simon Busuttil. I am willing to wait and to stand to be corrected