Pleased he’s staying?
Times of Malta carried a brief paragraph in its election news, the day before yesterday: LABOUR PLEASED HE’S STAYING.
It said:
Labour Party functionaries have said they are pleased Simon Busuttil is staying on because, they argue, his leadership is an asset to their party since it has failed to make an electoral inroads.
They say that, a year after the former MEP and deputy leader was chosen by PN councilors to lead a bruised party, Dr Busuttil’s leadership has failed to inspire people.
In fact, when Dr Busuttil made an appearance at the counting hall when it became evident that the sixth seat would be determined by a few hundred votes, the Labour agents thought he was there to announce his resignation.
It did not happen and Labour functionaries were giving the impression of muted glee.
Who wrote that? Kurt Sansone, who is to Times of Malta what Miriam Dalli (the reporter) is to Malta Today. Or rather, not ‘to’ but ‘in’.
Anybody with half a political brain would know what if the Labour Party and its “functionaries” (what a revealing choice of word) were truly pleased that Simon Busuttil is staying on as PN leader, they would make a point of not showing it. They certainly wouldn’t make a big show of playing at “muted glee” for the benefit of reporters. Even if the “functionaries” were too dull-witted to work out why for themselves, they would have had instructions as they do for everything else.
The big show of muted glee is precisely to convey the impression that they are pleased Busuttil is staying on as party leader. It’s done with intent. And that intent is to sow further discord among the Nationalist Party and its supporters themselves, so that the pressure increases to get rid of Busuttil – precisely because they are not glad he is staying.
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We have got used to it now: Labour being the underdog.
Ahn Ter Tokk.
I hope the PN and its supporters read between the lines and notices that Labour’s insistence that Busttill is doing them wonders is their attempt at reverse psychology. Please, for the love of all that’s good, don’t fall for it.
Kurt Sansone……some journalism
Kurt Sansone is so good he should be promoted to some overseas post with Times of Malta.
In hindsight it seems that one of the objectives of PL was to get the PN to change its leadership. How else would one explain the use of all possible party and government resources including the public broadcasting and the power of incumbency?
It is not because they like or dislike Busuttil or anyone else. It was an attempt to weaken the PN because a change of leadership would mean starting from scratch.
Thankfully the PL failed in its objective.
As the saying goes:
“Hadd mhu se jahsilek wiccek biex tidher ahjar minnhu”
It is all deceit a’ la Labour.
After all, it is none of their business.
It goes without saying, to anyone with a smidgen of grey matter between his ears, that any advice to the Nationalists given by the Labour Party would be to the sole benefit of the Labour Party itself and to nobody else. They keep on doing it only because there is a vacuum between their earholes.
X’jahsbu l-Laburisti fuq Simon Busuttil huwa irrelevanti, imma jekk il-bierah rajtu Dissett kontu tindunaw ghalfejn il-PN taht Busuttil mhux qed jaghmel progress.
Jibqa jifrah fuq is-siggijiet u li t-target intlehaq.
Anki Reno Bugeja baqa imbellah b’ çertu risposti. U fil-frattemp qed jintilef leader bhal DeMarco.
[Daphne – I really don’t know why you think Mario de Marco would make a better party leader than Simon Busuttil. In case you are making that mistake because you were a fan of his father, I’ll have to disabuse you of the notion that he is in any way similar. He could not be more different in practically every respect. The only people going on about how Mario de Marco should be leader are, tellingly, those from his own social network and people like you who sound as though you were ‘partitarji’ of his father. It does not follow, from these narrow personal preferences, that he has wider social appeal. Another mistake you make is to see this as a ‘Mario or Simon’ choice. It isn’t. If Busuttil were to resign, the Nationalist Party would have to go for somebody totally different, not yet another St Aloysius lawyer out of the exact same box and social background, six of one and half a dozen of the other.]
Don t want to jump the gun but I think that you just described Claudio Grech.
The young energetic & very conservative city boy might just be the best man for the job.
Let s hope that if Simon Busuttil decides to go he takes his two puppies, Clyde / David with him.
[Daphne – If you so admire Claudio Grech, Anna, why didn’t you vote for him last year? And if you so admire Claudio Grech, why did you have such a problem with Austin Gatt?]
anna caruana, I hope you realise your agenda has been predicted since Busuttil’s election to leadership.
And you’ll still have Massimo Borg ranting the same. Unless all that matters is to keep this liberal/conservative match going, just for fun.
Busuttil meantime chose the job everyone keeps pushing onto each other. I’m a Busuttil puppet if you ask me.
What are you.
Totally correct, Daphne.
The present party leadership has been set. There will be no further racing between the same horses.
If Simon Busuttil goes, so will Mario de Marco, Beppe Fenech Adami and Chris Said and a completely fresh team will be have to be found.
I don’t think it can be said clearer then that.
May I suggest that everyone stop this childish bickering which has caused the Nationalist Party enough problems in the recent past and get to work towards achieving an electoral success in the shortest time possible.
Absolutely spot on, does De Marco think he’ll be an asset if Busuttil’s shown the door?
Busuttil happens to be an outsider who has 2.3 billion euros to his credit. He has all the established contacts in Brussels, fifteen years of experience and expertise in all matters EU.
When Labour’s agenda is a double-dealing EU hostile business strategy, Busuttil will remain the only thing between us and their unpublished commitments.
Busuttil challenged the party to understand its moral obligation and natural duty to govern this place.
Something Louis Grech knows, calling it the stamperija’s arrogance to believe the PN has a natural right to govern.
Indeed minister, the PN has a moral duty to lead this country, something you won’t engage, being a fake set of professionally styled lingo and inorganic blurb.
The PN has the best possible opportunity to rebuild itself, constellate currents and crystallise contrasts, rendering these complementary. If being conservative ever made sense, it’s a vocation to a sense of order.
Only Malta’s most voted representative can make that work.
The difference between Simon Busuttil and Joseph Muscat is the same as that between the Northern Lights and a glow worm.
However, the former has an ethical background that one shouldn’t lie in politics whereas the other self-admittedly proclaims that it is OK to tell the truth now and again.
It’s even worse than that, Winston.
When Simon Busuttil said it wasn’t ethical to lie in politics he was saying the truth because it’s not ethical to lie.
When Joseph Muscat said it’s OK to tell the truth now and again he may have been lying because he only tells the truth occasionally.
This means that he could be lying all the time and not now and again.
Now work that one out.
All this is true, not that there’s any need for my stating it.
But whether Sansone is reporting fact or fiction, whether he’s putting pen to paper without turning his brain on, or whether he’s being another Miriam Dalli, there’s one statement in what he wrote that many find as undeniable truth:
“Dr Busuttil’s leadership has failed to inspire people”
It would have been encouraging to hear Busuttil state that he’s doubling his efforts had things improved, but with no tangible result in terms of increased support from the efforts that have already been made since Gonzi stepped down, what good would increasing one’s efforts do?
For one can multiply nothing by any order of magnitude; the result would still be nothing.
I would welcome the doubling of efforts in finding the right people to lead the party.
But failing a complete change in leadership, what is needed is a complete change in strategy and an overhaul of policies as has already been suggested on this blog and elsewhere, and not the doubling of the same efforts that have practically taken us nowhere.
I would still have my doubts, though, that the same leadership could ever succeed in convincing people that their thinking has changed.
I don’t see anything wrong in Simon Busuttil’s leadership. His leadership style brought the PN and Malta good quality hard working , level headed candidates who can work in a team.
What a breath of fresh air from the past candidates the PN had in the past.
On the other hand one can see that there is no choice process of candidates in Joe’s PL. To be a candidate, one has to only please Joseph Muscat or make a back-room deal with him, like “I won’t run for the general election but you have to back me for the MEP election”; or ‘What would the voters think of you if I tell them you did not let me run for this MEP Election”?
Min imaqdar irid jixtri.
Well said. Labour’s advice to the PN to change leadership is as good as Joseph Muscat’s advice to Cyprus and Iceland about economy and EU membership.
Maybe Kurt Sansone has the hots for the Castille coconut, same as Miriam Dalli of Malta Today.
The PL are trying to play the reverse psychology game. This sort of asinine behaviour may mislead their mindless flock but anyone with half a brain will understand their pathetic game.
The truth is that Joseph Muscat is terrified of Simon Busuttil, and he knows that in the end Busuttil will expose him for what he really is, and what he really represents.
I for one am genuinely happy that Simon Busuttil has decided not th throw in the towel.
Those who are asking for his resignation or removal are not true Nationalist supporters. If they are so keen to have a PN that’s like Labour, why aren’t they voting Labour?
I have every right to criticize Joseph Muscat AS PRIME MINISTER AND HEAD OF GOVERNMENT, bcause it is my government too, and what it does affects my life.
But Joseph Muscat AS LEADER OF THE LABOUR PARTY does not affect me one way or the other. So, I don’t feel the need to criticise him. That is a matter for the Labour Party to deal with as they see fit.
In football terminology, if I support the England team, why should I mock the manager of the Italian team UNLESS I BELIEVE HE IS SO GOOD HE SHOULD BE MANAGING ENGLAND.
As the Maltese proverb says, “Min imaqdar irid jixtri.”
The Labour Party has made a habit of asking for the resignation of Nationalist leaders: Nerik Mizzi, George Borg Olivier, Eddie Fenech Adami, Lawrence Gonzi and now Simon Busuttil. That in itself is a back-handed compliment.
Is there any comparison between these and the likes of Dom Mintoff, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, Alfred Sant and Joseph Muscat?
“Those who are asking for his resignation or removal are not true Nationalist supporters. If they are so keen to have a PN that’s like Labour, why aren’t they voting Labour?”
I suppose I’m one “not true” Nationalist supporter.
I’m not keen to have a PN that’s like Labour. I’m keen, however, to have a leader capable of taking on Muscat and of convincing people without much effort.
I’m keen to have a leader who’s himself convinced and capable of convincing the rest of the leadership and the party’s current support base that personal religious beliefs have absolutely no place in modern politics.
Why am I not voting Labour? Because I’m true to the PN, and because I recognise how valuable the PN has been to our country and want it to evolve and continue to be even more valuable.
Are you telling me and others that if we’re not happy with the leader’s performance, we should vote Labour? So, given recent polls showing leaders’ approval rating margins roughly double the parties’ support margins, would you have been happier with a more devastating defeat and consequently even greater pressure for a change in leadership?
My thoughts exactly. I think that when Busuttil says “I will stay on” it shows that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. It would have been the easiest thing for him to pull out now and send everyone to hell, going back to his law career.
So people’s perception of him is already changing.
It is Labour strategy to attack the PN leadership. They did it with Lawrence Gonzi, now they are trying with Busuttil.
If there’s tough in Busuttil, he must have been keeping it under wraps.
There is. He started to show it on Dissett.
If that’s what it takes, it will work, especially within the party itself.
Spot on, Daphne. If my memory serves me well, during the Dalli vs Gonzi PN leadership contest, they did all they could to get John Dalli elected. I dread to think what would have happened to the PN had they succeeded.
Eventually, people will start asking Joseph Muscat “where’s the beef?” and will look to Simon Busuttil, whose style contrasts sharply with Muscat’s, as the perfect alternative.
There’s no question about the contrast in style.
Unfortunately, it’s not you and I that need convincing.
And if others aren’t convinced, then there must be something other than style that is lacking, surely.
Labour Party functionaries have said they are pleased Simon Busuttil is staying on because, they argue, his leadership is an asset to their party since it has failed to make an electoral inroads. – Kurt Sansone
What party? The last I heard was that the MLP was finished and what they have now is a movement.
The MLP changed its name.
The MLP changed its logo.
The MLP changed itsr flag.
The MLP changed its full identity because it is ashamed to show its past.
The MLP had a member who split the party to become leader.
The MLP had a leader who never won an election.
The MLP had a leader who won an election once and then was unable to hold onto power for more than 22 months.
The MLP had a leader who called a former MLP leader ‘traditur’ not once, not twice, but three times.
The MLP had a leader who has been demoted to an MEP.
The MLP has a leader who wants to hide its past leadership because it is an embarrassment.
Labour Party functionaries have said they are pleased Simon Busuttil is staying on.
Well, we are finally in agreement on something.
I too am pleased that Simon Busuttil is staying on, because in one short year he has managed to win that third seat for the PN that has been elusive for the past ten years.
Oh, and speaking of assets, I think Kurt Sansone’s lack of credibility is an asset to The Malta Independent.
Nghid ghalija jkun minn ikun mexxej tal-partit ma taghmilliex differenza, la jkun gie elett skond l-istrutturi tal-partit.
Il-lejalta ghandha tkun assoluta.
Imma kultant nahseb, avvolja minn 1977 ‘l hawn ghaddew 37 sena certu nies ghadhom ma nsewx.
Ilqatt il-liks Belti.
Kulhadd ghandu jiehu responsabilita’ ghalfejn il-partit nesa’ sia l-lingwa Ngliza sia l-ohra li hadd ma jrid isemmi.
Basta Liberali. Kieku mqar jitniffsu u jikxfu dak li ghandhom f’qalbhom. Forsi jibda’ jitrawwem il-hsieb, mhux spiccajna nippretendu dak li m’ahniex, nigru wara Muscat u nhallu l-kap jaqla’ l-hama ta’ haddieor.
Kurt Sansone can ask Marlene Farrugia. She gave a ringing endorsement to Simon Busuttil on Xarabank yesterday. She sounded much more genuine than Toni Abela on that same programme and much more realistic than the line given to Kurt Sansone from Labour HQ at the counting hall.