It was one of those little words that make all the difference; in this case it made the prime minister look like a barefaced liar.
According to The Sunday Times’ interview with Lawrence Gonzi, he received emails from the Opposition lauding his budget. “The reaction has been good – I’ve even had e-mails from Opposition members saying it was a good Budget and that it had addressed the country’s major needs,” he was quoted as saying.
The quote infuriated the Opposition’s bench, with the Labour HQ mobilising all 30 MPs to sign a declaration yesterday, denying they ever sent any emails congratulating Gonzi on his budget.
The declaration was accompanied by a press release slamming the prime minister for his “barefaced lie”.
“Although it’s been four years since he became prime minister promising to bring a new way of doing politics, on the eve of the election Lawrence Gonzi is behaving just like his predecessor, by lying for electoral convenience,” Labour said. One Labour MP whose signature could not be recognised went as far as adding, “I don’t even know his email” on the same page.
In response, the Office of the Prime Minister went back to the original recording of the interview. As it turned out, Gonzi had never referred to “Opposition members” at all.
A spokesman for Gonzi said The Sunday Times had got it wrong and was expecting a correction to be published today. The exact quote reads: “I’ve received emails sent directly to me, even by people coming from the opposite party, from the Labour party, acknowledging the fact that it was a good budget, that it addressed their major needs.”
Still, the spokesman could not name the persons referred to by Gonzi.