May I take the liberty of being the first person to congratulate Joseph Muscat on his being elected MLP leader? I know it is only March 30 and the MLP is set to take its decision on June 4, but that will be just a formality. Trust me!
The interview with Joseph Muscat carried last week in The Sunday Times and subsequent comments by Joseph Muscat himself leave no doubt that the leadership chalice – containing both joy and sorrow – will be claimed by him. People have interpreted his brag that he is looking forward to ‘being a Labour prime minister at 39’ as reflecting an arrogant and facetious character. This impression was reinforced by such statements as: “I just couldn’t ignore the many people who believe in me and asked me to contest the leadership post” and “People see me as a person they can work with. I have a 15-year project for the party and the country. During a maximum five years in opposition we will spend the first two years transforming the party. We want to make each citizen feel comfortable with voting Labour.”
Leaving aside the preposterous claim that within two weeks of Labour losing the election, he had already charted a 15-year project with him as MLP leader, I think that all this just reflects the strength and the vigour of Muscat’s self-confidence. Is there any doubt that Joseph Muscat is certain that he will soon assume the MLP leadership?
The way the party media on Sunday evening and l-orizzont on Monday announced that to date he was the first and only candidate for the MLP leadership, leaves no doubt that the party machinery – that was created by Sant and backed him all through the last sixteen years, even successfully launching his bid to remain leader five years ago – is now backing Joseph Muscat.
Basically, this means that the inner party machinery fashioned by Alfred Sant intends to stay put and back Joseph Muscat, hoping that it will keep on calling the shots in the red glasshouse at Hamrun. No wonder Jason Micallef refuses to resign from his cosy post of party general secretary and that Manwel Cuschieri carries on with his diatribes on the party radio station!
With the exception of Alfred Sant, no one from the inner circle that ran Labour’s election campaign has packed up his or her bags and left the party headquarters. Writing in last Sunday’s Illum, Wenzu Mintoff repeated that although he was technically an MLP official (Education Secretary), he had nothing to do with the electoral campaign and he now expected all those who “monopolised totally the planning and the implementation of the electoral campaign while closing the doors for everybody else” to resign from their posts, adding that he would also resign if they did. Some hope!
Meanwhile Joseph Muscat, shielded by a newly discovered group of ‘assistants’, is strutting along from MLP club to MLP club, preening and showing to all and sundry that he is the stuff that Labour leaders are made of. I reckon that the die is cast.
The unexpected development is that the other would-be candidates seem to be just dithering and reconsidering: surely no leadership qualities! They seem to have been already overwhelmed by the audacity of the Joseph Muscat steamroller.
What has happened to George Abela, Evarist Bartolo, Marie-Louise Coleiro-Preca, Michael Falzon, and Anglu Farrugia (listed in strict alphabetical order)? Have they all suddenly gone speechless while Joseph Muscat runs circles around them? Have they been mesmerised into inertia by their own party media that claims that Muscat is the only person that has openly declared his candidacy? Are they really interested in the post, or are they having second thoughts about sticking their neck out? Are they ignoring those who believe in them or are these too few to matter?
Much has been made of the fact that the MLP executive ‘bowed’ to the pressure that was made to ensure that this time around, the decision on the leadership is not taken in unholy haste. Over two months have been allowed, ostensibly to give time for a thorough study on why the party failed to win a third consecutive election and for the party delegates to have a clear idea of the options before them. Personally, I do not make much of this.
These two months or so can be availed of by both Joseph Muscat, the one anointed by the party machinery, as well as by any other challenger and from what has happened in the last few days it does seem to me that it is Muscat who is making the best use of it. Up to the time of writing, in fact, no one else has officially declared he or she will be contesting for the leadership post, although I have no doubt that my namesake, Michael Falzon, will in fact contest the election.
In fact, according to a report by Noel Grima in last week’s The Malta Independent on Sunday, “despite a plethora of would-be candidates still milling around, it does look as if the two principal contenders for the role of Labour leader are deputy leader Michael Falzon and MEP Joe Muscat.” If this is correct, the other would-be candidates will be making way for a straight Muscat vs. Falzon contest. The fact that Falzon has not been the darling of the party machinery confirms that, come June, Joseph Muscat will be the next MLP leader.
Michael Falzon has been unjustly targeted from some MLP quarters for being ‘responsible’ for the MLP defeat as a result of his asking the Electoral Commission to extend the voting time by one hour after there was a late build-up of queues in polling stations in some areas where people were also voting for their local council. He has vehemently denied that this decision was taken at his request, although he cannot deny his agreement with it, or his acquiescence to it. Meanwhile there have been too many rumblings in the sense that all the MLP leadership should shoulder the responsibility for the defeat, not just Alfred Sant.
It is obvious that my namesake is not the kingmakers’ (or is it kingmaker’s?) favourite.
That is why that rather than resigning, Jason Micallef is probably thinking of ordering Joseph’s brass plate!