Old Labour venom poisons New Labour

A hateful article in It-Torca (August 10) by Lino Cassar, aimed at ridiculing moderate Alfred Mifsud, exemplifies all that is wrong with the Labour Party. All the efforts to portray 'New' Labour as being purged from yesterday's discredited men is rendered utterly futile when Mr Cassar, who is the very epitome of yesterday men, is allowed to sabotage the image the Labour Party was vainly trying to project.

It is fairly obvious, even to the casual observer, that the party is still held hostage by the likes of the venomous Mr Cassar. It is still very far from understanding that it is precisely moderates like Mr Mifsud, Josè Herrera, Karmenu Vella, Louis Buhagiar, Charlie Mizzi, John Attard Montalto and a few others who represent any hope for Labour becoming acceptable to the floating voter.

The Labour Party need old relics like Mr Cassar like the proverbial hole in the head. Having apparently got rid of the highly damaging and corrosive influence of Manuel Cuschieri, there still seems to be no shortage of people, in the bosom of the Party, who like a worm in an apple actively destroy it from within.

A quantum leap in the mentality of the party reigning elite is necessary to rid it of its murky past. People like Mr Cassar bring back shuddering memories and nightmares of Labour's worst excesses. The Labour Party's oozing hypocrisy is amply illustrated by the way Monday's news bulletin was compiled.

There was not a word mentioned either in the news or when quoting extracts from the papers about the internecine warfare still creating havoc in the Labour camp. Of course, they are still harping about Dr Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando's opposition to the proposed landfill.

Not a word about the bile spewed out by Mr Cassar in It-Torca. Mr Mifsud's opinion that Alfred Sant should remove himself from the party leadership is shared by the many who had enough of his promising electoral victories to come.

He is too closely associated with the MLP's dirtiest campaign on Malta's accession to the EU. If the Labour Party seriously want to respect the people's democratic electoral will, and make amends by joining the other European Socialist Parties in Europe, then Mr Mifsud is very correct when he argues that Dr Sant, in the prevailing circumstances, is the worst possible leader for the Labour Party.

Dr Sant commands respect for his brilliant academic achievements. I even say that he is a well meaning, unpretentious, unassuming person. The tragedy is that politically he is highly flawed.

He failed to see at the right time the advantages for Malta and the Labour Party that would have accrued from being with the mainstream European Socialists. It had to be yet another defeat that opened his eyes to his folly.

He has also proved that he is no diplomat. The traitor jibe was a gross mistake that sealed for ever any pretension he might have harboured in this direction.

Under his leadership the party is going to carry on losing its best men. Mr Mifsud's reputation and the respect he commands among his peers in his profession would have made him the ideal future Labour Finance Minister.

After the way Leo Brincat discredited himself by his antics over the VAT issue, and the way he was trying to come up with an impromptu fiscal policy on the hoof, there seems to be nobody else in the Labour camp who can even begin to compare with Mr Mifsud.

I conclude by confessing my dismay that the likes of Mr Cassar are still allowed a free reign to sabotage the party. I was hoping that the elimination of Mr Cuschieri was indicative of the Labour Party's recognition that these people cause more harm to the party than anything written in the English newspapers they so often vilify.

So the list of Labour's notable losses goes on unabated. Will the Labour Party ever come to its senses and realise, that a genuine new leader is required, unencumbered with the soiled baggage of the past?

Personally, I derive no hope from current goings on in the party.