At last, somebody senior puts a rocket under the prats
When I wrote that the poor public behaviour of ‘disgruntled’ politicians is all down to one thing – that they are not gentlemen and probably not even particularly intelligent – some commentators (from the sort of background that leads them to believe that gentlemanly behaviour is a pointless affectation and intelligence is surplus to requirements) sneered and called me a snob.
But it has nothing to do with snobbery. The ability to behave like a gentleman, whatever one’s social background might be, serves a very useful purpose: that of smoothing one’s path through life. And intelligence ensures that we consider the long-term prospects, and not just the immediate ones, before we act.
As we have seen, politicians who behave like teenagers don’t make life difficult only for others. They also make life difficult for themselves, by burning bridges and rendering themselves not just unpleasant but also untrustworthy.
I loved reading every word George Bonello du Puis said in this interview. It’s exactly how I see the situation – but you know that already.
timesofmalta.com, today
No one is greater than the party – former minister
Christian Peregin
Former finance minister George Bonello Dupuis finds the recent behaviour of disgruntled Nationalists “sickening” and thinks backbencher Franco Debono has ruined his career with his parliamentary antics.
Dr Bonello Dupuis told The Sunday Times he wanted to help the Prime Minister in a time of need, and teach a lesson to hot-headed Nationalists who “grouse” over losing their posts.
He said Dr Debono – who missed two votes in Parliament and underlined the government’s delicate majority – would never be trusted again.
“Who knows what he will be up to next time? He was silly to do what he did. It’s simply not done to run away from a vote in Parliament, particularly when it’s a vote which concerns you.”
He believes Dr Debono should be strongly disciplined.
“Who does he think he is? He is not there because he is popular, but because the party put him on its ticket.”
He also lashed out at outgoing EU commissioner Joe Borg, who expressed his frustration after learning about his replacement from the evening news.
Dr Bonello Dupuis argued that any appointee was there “for the duration of the Prime Minister’s pleasure”.
People like Dr Borg should retire gracefully and not “give fodder to the enemy”.
“Unfortunately, people do not have enough gumption to say their snout has been in the trough for quite a while. Rather than thank their lucky stars that they have been appointed, they grouse when they are replaced by others,” he said.
Dr Bonello Dupuis, 82, was in politics for 25 years, most prominently when former Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami appointed him finance minister for nine years.
The successful notary, who was also president of Sliema Wanderers, was then let go by the Prime Minister, causing him great disappointment, which he “took on the chin”.
“When Eddie told me he had had enough of me, I retired gracefully. I was disappointed, because it was just two days after my biggest triumph (selling off the Bank of Valletta shares) but you have to take it like a man,” he explains proudly.
“I always said you should not put someone in Cabinet if they haven’t ever been in football, because in football you are 11 and if you’re not good, you leave. What if I don’t let one of my players out on the field? Will he go complain to Floriana?”
He thinks it is fine to criticise one’s own party, but only if it is done internally, and within the party’s structures, not in public.
“You don’t give joy to the opposition. You keep your gunpowder dry to shoot at the enemy not wet so you can’t shoot.”
He advised the Prime Minister to “take more care in breaking the news” and to “sugar the pill” because he is dealing with human nature.
However, nothing justified going public with one’s gripes – especially at a time of economic crisis which puts the Prime Minister in a vulnerable position.
Dr Bonello Dupuis recalls the letter he wrote to Dr Fenech Adami when he was removed from his post during a Cabinet reshuffle. He said he did not hold it against the Prime Minister at the time – on the contrary, he wrote to tell him he believed the team was supreme.
In response, then Prime Minister said he was overwhelmed by Dr Bonello Dupuis’ reaction but had no doubt he would accept the decision as the perfect gentleman he was.
Dr Fenech Adami wrote back: “I have learned a lot from you over the years, particularly about the importance of team spirit, but I shall never forget the lesson you gave me today.”
Speaking about the letters he treasures to this day, Dr Bonello Dupuis says: “That’s the way things should be done.”
He adds that in his time, the only person who behaved like today’s disgruntled Nationalists was Josie Muscat.
“But we kicked him out, even though he was a kingpin in Żabbar. He thought he was greater than the party. But no one is; no one deserves to be.”
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Let’s forget differences, disgruntlements and electricity bills for a few days
Peace and happiness to everyone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKcwjs4iZc8
but then good old George has always been known to call a spade a spade…..just like our D.
Hope you and family had a good Xmas
I am sorry to say but you just don’t get it, do you ?
It is better having a terrible Labour party, then illegal immigrants and some other things.
Blunt but true.
Sorry but I don’t get your point – are you suggesting that a Labour government will solve the immigration issue?
“He advised the Prime Minister to “take more care in breaking the news” and to “sugar the pill” because he is dealing with human nature.”
Says a lot.
Sorry am going to be off topic. I see that that prat Tyrrell is at it in the Times and someone has mentioned you in relation to him :-P
here is the link but you’ll have to sift through the drivel: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091227/local/girls-13-to-be-charged-with-defiling-student
It is the same syndrome again. Ireland joined the EU but we should not have. Northern Ireland lowered its age of consent but we shouldn’t. Oh and he says he is not Irish but British. What a twat.
There was a time long ago when I admired your writing. I’m sure the very same George Bonello Depuis you so predictably praise here today used to shit in his pants right before your writing used to appear on The Times (as other ministers would). Today, for reasons I cannot fathom, all you do is try to conjure hyperbolic excuses for this lame government, thereby compounding our misery as this reinforces this government’s complete detachment from reality.
If your reasons for this apologetic-style in writing is that you have taken it upon yourself to unmask Joseph Muscat, may I remind you that back then, despite the fact that KMB and Alfred Sant were the opposition’s leaders, for you, a spade was still a spade.
[Daphne – It still is. And might I remind you that back in 1996, I was the sole voice calling a spade a spade where Alfred Sant was concerned, while everybody and his brother (and sister) rushed to praise him as the new Golden Calf. I wasn’t the one who had to change either my opinion or my tune. The trouble with being perceptive about people and situations is that very often one finds oneself out of sync with others who take a little longer to work things out. This has never bothered me and it’s not about to start bothering me now.]
In the absence of a credible opposition back then, your writings voiced what learned people were unable to coherently put in writing, and kept in check an enthusiastic government which protected free speech and harboured no resentment towards dissidents or negative opinions.
[Daphne – Jean, back-benchers who cause trouble because they don’t get what they want for themselves are not dissidents. Dissidents are those who object to a government’s or party’s policies and principles. Also, they do not form part of the party or government they criticise, but are on the outside – ordinary citizens. And that is why you would have dissidents only in the Soviet Union and today, in China. You cannot have dissidents in a democracy.]
What a difference today? Can you imagine your creative writing (to put it mildly) back then if Alfred Sant had spent Eur170,000 to inaugurate a freakin’ paved-square in the midst of a massive recession? Can you imagine your reaction if Eddie decided to wage a war at MEPA’s auditor?
[Daphne – I don’t agree with massive launch parties for squares, but I do agree with the war waged on MEPA’s auditor. He is quite obviously an angry man with a transparently anti-government agenda. In his position, he should be impartial and unbiased. His obvious bias instills mistrust.]
Your writing has indeed become a disappointment week in week out. You once wrote that you are simply ‘an entertainer’. This is now true more than ever.
[Daphne – For the last 20 years I have been at the receiving end of accusations just like this. It happens when I no longer reflect a person’s opinion. Suddenly, my views become wrong-headed and my writing inferior to what it once was. Those who speak as you do forget that I may no longer be in tune with what you think, but I am in tune with what others think. If we all had precisely the same opinion, this would be an odd place. I trust my judgement, even if you don’t.]
I think it was John Maynard Keynes who, replying to someone who accused him of changing his ideas on monetary policy, said “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”
I have no axe to grind with the PN (I voted for them in the past election, and in the previous one too) but you really are defending the indefensible now.
A friendly word of advice. Don’t forget that you are a journalist first, a PN supporter second. Your duty is to your readers: being critical of something you hold dear to you can only enhance your credibility.
[Daphne – I am not a reporter, my dear. I am paid for my opinion (but not where this blog is concerned, because I do it pro bono and for my own amusement), and that is what I give in return for my pay-cheque: what I think, and not what other people think I should think. ]
I enjoyed reading this. Good ole GBD was always a cut above te rest… and I’m not only referring to today’s young whinging prat politicians but also to many of his contemporaries.
People who act like Franco Debono commit political suicide. Just look at what happened to Josie Muscat. They would never be trusted again.
We always knew how the ‘money no problem’ ex-Minister of Finance Bonello Depuis thinks, for him it was always the party first and then the government. Can’t he understand that after 20 years of Nationalist governments, Malta need a change to new ideas.
[Daphne – That would be all well and good, but where are these new ideas coming from? A 35-year-old narcissistic Super One hack and Anglu Farrugia? I don’t think so, Carm. We are not faced with a choice between this government and New Ideas. Weare faced with a choice between Lawrence Gonzi and Joseph Muscat, and only those who are raised Labour, those who are too stupid to work out a simple cost-benefit exercise, and those who are prepared to cut off their nose to spite their bitter little faces would choose the latter. I admit there are plenty of the last lot. But there you go. I would rather drink ink than admit to the embarrassment of choosing Muscat as prime minister. He is so obviously inadequate.]
Daphne, I fully agree with you on the fact that on the MLP ticket (or PL whatever) nothing has actually changed.
But, as someone recently pointed out in this blog, I’m afraid I am presently seeing in this Gonzi administration the exact copy of the John Major governmnet, who managed to scrape through the 1992 election in the UK, but lost heavily in 1997 and the Tories have not won a general election since.
Do you see any similarities?
[Daphne – No. Quite aside from the fact that we tend to make pointless comparisons with British politics because Britain has been our point of reference for 200 years, and because we are heavily exposed to British media (and because Britain has a party duopoly too, with a third party that makes not much difference), you are forgetting to factor in one crucial part of the equation: Tony Blair, Cool Britannia and New Labour. Even if I accept your comparison of Gonzi to Major, I would have more than a little difficulty casting Muscat as Blair and his sidekicks as role-players in the equivalent of Cool Britannia. What would it be – Malta Rocks? I am well aware that Labour will win the next election. But it will win by default and not because people here see Joseph Muscat in the same way that Britain saw Tony Blair in 1987.]
You seem to suffer, dear Daphne, from a local mediocre middle class syndrome: knowing a little about everything.
[Daphne – I don’t know why you think that’s a handicap. To know a little about everything is a hell of a lot more useful than to know a lot about nothing, or even a lot about a little, or a little about a little. And it’s not ‘local’, because that would be Bidnija and there are precious few ‘middle class’ people here, unless you’re counting Maurice Mizzi, about whom the less said the better. Nor is it a national ‘middle class’ syndrome, incidentally. Another point: a middle class presumes the existence of an upper class. Exactly who would you slot into that category? I’m just curious. A kuntrattur with a Porsche and yott, no doubt.]
Despite Muscat being on record as saying that he wants to be Malta’s next prime minister as a result of an informed deliberate choice by the electorate and not by default, it is by now very obvious that this aspiration has gone to Timbuktu and surely won’t be coming back.
The PL, with amongst its ranks people like Muscat, Farrugia, Abela, Sceberras Trigona, Bedingfield, Mangion and other “no-goods”, has resigned itself to the fact that it does not have the ability to provide decent alternatives and therefore has again embarked on the Phil Noble style of election winning tactics, namely solely attacking the competitor rather than proposing solutions that would really bring about a movement for change!
In the house of commons where there is real democracy there we many times that members voted against their own party. We are not mature yet enough …we have a long way to go. Someone has to ”tell” the PM and NP what the people are feeling and saying as they are too arrogant to listen. The communists used to do anything for ”The Party”…so Dr Bonello Dupuis is saying the same.Oh ! Have we forgotten how happy we were when Dom Mintoff gave us the chance to get rid of Alfred Sant and the chance to join the E.U ? Or is it a case of two weights two measures.
[Daphne – Selective comparison, I’m afraid. There are no single-seat majorities in the House of Commons. And yes, those who defy the party leader are disciplined – sometimes in private, sometimes in public. They are disciplined because no leader can afford to have his status, and the authority which derives from it, challenged. This has nothing to do with communism. Leaders are there to lead, and electors are nervous around leaders who are perceived to be weak or unsure of themselves. Look at John Major. Look at Gordon Brown. And look at Silvio Berlusconi. This is human psychology, not politics. David Cameron recently threatened with expulsion from the party a Conservative MP who made defiant remarks to a newspaper about his expenses claims: he said people were jealous because he lived in a big house. Cameron gave him a choice: apologise or go. He apologised. And the conservatives are not even in government. Tony Blair? Peter Mandelson’s job at one point was almost exclusively to knock heads together and make sure all ministers and backbenches toed the party line and stayed in order.]
Your reply confirms that it is a case of two weights, two measures. All Alfred Sant had to do to get Mintoff in line is to consult with him, a tactic Lawrence Gonzi chose and preferred to have with Franco Debono MP rather than confrontation. No threats of expulsion or anything and his government is saved to do what it was elected to do: govern without hindrance. When a government has a one seat majority its leader has, first and foremost, to safeguard that slim majority to be able to carry on its mandate and not throw it to the wind.
Daphne- Judging from the mood of the country, the MLP most likely will win the next general election with a decent margin but soon they will discover that they will be unable to implement their policies or their socialist way of governing.
Labour tell us that when in government they will subdue the rising cost of food by bringing back the bulk buying mechanism. Can you imagine the young Labourites’ families who are used to choices going to the supermarkets which were almost nonexistent during the Labour years and find them with empty shelves?
Can you imagine the MLP in government to balance the trade deficit disallowing again the importation of computers, HD televisions, DVD, MP3, toilet paper and chocolates? What would the young Labourities say?
[Daphne – That’s not possible because we are part of the European Union’s free-trade zone.]
What the young Labourities would say when they hear that their MLP government will be phasing out the students’ stipend to reduce the deficit and have to join government students’ work scheme?
When the price of oil skyrocketed during the Labour years their solution was to cut off the juice for half the island.
How would the young Labourites react when they hear that their MLP in government would implement one of their aims, disallowing the low cost airlines from operating to Malta? Monopoly again?
During the last 20 years or so the PN governments turned Malta upside down. They were able to raise the standard of living by liberalizing the economy, decentralized the government, elevated peoples education and gave people choices. No doubt, implementing these policies were difficult and mistakes along this journey were done but the PN’s course was correct. History is unbiased and tells us the course is correct.
Daphne, once the toothpaste is out of the tube it is very difficult to put it back. MLP in government will fight tooth and nail to put back the toothpaste but their own supporters will turn against them.
After steering Malta towards Euro membership and winning the election almost single handedly Gonzi seems to have run out of steam and be suffering from burnout. To the unbiased observer it is blatantly obvious that too many sectors of the country are not functioning properly.
I compare the level of disgruntlement with the government at present to that of the 96-98 period (the older generation compare it to the KMB years) and many people are ready to give the 35-year-old narcissistic Super One hack and Anglu Farrugia a chance at running government.
May I share what I am feeling about the present situation: I wouldn’t mind if the PN loses the next general election but I don’t want the PL to govern.
[Daphne – That’s called reasoning with your arse, and I’m surprised at how many people do it. Every general election I find myself reminding people that it’s a choice between Alfred Sant and Fenech Adami, or Alfred Sant and Gonzi, and now Joseph Muscat and Gonzi, and not between the Nationalist Party we would like to see and the Nationalist Party we’ve actually got (and ditto Labour). I can’t understand why people find it so hard to make decisions that are really quite straightforward. I look at it in a business-like way: whatever I do, I’m still going to wind up with a prime minister, so I might as well have a say in choosing him. I look at the choice on offer – next choice up, Gonzi and Muscat – and it takes me roughly half a second to decide who I would rather have running the country. I don’t even bother looking at the party, because basically now it’s all about the prime minister. You just have to be pragmatic. It’s pointless having a Father Christmas wishlist of what you want in a prime minister, because what you see is what you’re going to get, whether you like it or not.]
OK Daphne, I agree that one has to choose , but we deserve a better choice. We need a change but not any change. I was one who gave my second preference for the young new faces, to have a change, but all I got was an attention-seeking mummy’s boy who wants to rock the boat to get what he wants.
[Daphne – http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100103/opinion/all-nails-no-theses-for-debono%5D
Are you jealous of the kuntrattur who owns a Porsche and a yott?
[Daphne – Not at all. I have different priorities and suffer terribly from nausea at sea. To each, his own.]
Oh ! Have we forgotten how happy we were when Dom Mintoff gave us the chance to get rid of Alfred Sant and the chance to join the E.U ? Or is it a case of two weights two measures.
Your blogg so your prerogative Daphne but aren’t we being rather selective in our answers.
I know it is not relevant to the post above, but interesting article:
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/12/28/argentina.gay.marriage/index.html
Funny how a Catholic and traditionally macho society like Argentina can enact legislation allowing same sex marriage and here in this Catholic theocracy we still refuse discuss is divorce and offer proper sexual education which includes the proper use of contraception in state schools.
Countries like Chile, Argentina and Spain who not too long ago were ruled by very conservative military juntas have moved on and have enacted some progressive legislation granting their citizens personal freedoms which here in Malta we can only dream of.
Dear Daphne, after all the comments we pass during the year on this site, I wish everybody a Happy New Year 2010.
How nice to see that one of your last thoughts for the year 2009 was to log on to this blog …
” ……. but no one is (greater than the party), no one deserves to.”
Maybe you were one of the few who deserved it. RIP.