Losing the plot

People seem to be surprised that the Labour Party is in such a muddle. The party that once put up such a frightening show of uniformity and discipline - at least on the outside - now seems to have lost the plot. No agreement on fundamental policy, drastically opposing upcoming motions at the forthcoming general conference, panic stricken lashings out at criticism by its own members. One could argue that this was inevitable, that, in the circumstances, a transition period of soul-searching was inevitable for the MLP after the referendum and election.

True up to a point but I submit that the MLP has made things more difficult for itself since the election, sentencing itself to a prolonged stay in limbo rather than the short purifying stretch in purgatory that it actually needed.

Why do I say that?

Because people are not sheep to be led this way and that. People can be led if they trust and are inspired by their leader, if their leader's passion communicates itself to them. In the run-up to the referendum and election, one thing you could not fault Alfred Sant on was the depth of his anti-EU membership passion. Even if he failed to convince the electorate that he was right, he did convince us that he really thought EU membership was a terrible choice for Malta.

Compare that deep-felt passion with the gritted teeth through which now he forces himself to say that we must "accept the new reality". How, in a million years, can he ever hope to convince any one - let alone a majority - that he is the best man to lead Malta as a member of the European Union when he still feels the need to keep repeating that "partnership" was, in fact, the best option?

Instead of leadership, his followers have to endure the painful contortions of a man trying to make the best of things; instead of focusing on the creative exploitation of new opportunities, he is trying to "lessen the negative effects". Instead of embracing the new reality, Dr Sant is suffering it like a chronic illness that he must learn to live with because he didn't manage to prevent it and because he now can't seem to shake it off.

Instead of trying to inspire the people to make a success of membership, he seems to be telling them: "Well, we're still sure that we were right, but you have chosen this path so we'll just have to live with it".

And here lies the crux of the matter: Labour can reinvent and update itself, but not when its leader is the very same person who pushed so hard for the opposite policy. Labour needed to be given the space to refresh itself, to pull in new blood at the top.

Instead of creating that space by vacating his post, Dr Sant has occupied it, sticking to his leadership position like a limpet to a rock. His departure might have given Labour - sure, after a short painful period finding its feet - a fresh start and a strong platform from which to try and regain the electorate's trust.

As for the supposedly "pro-EU" members of the party, all I will say is that at the crucial time when Malta had to take the most critical decision about its future, despite repeated calls to stand up and be counted, they were part of the deafening (public) silence that came from the Labour ranks.

The Labour leadership has sentenced the party to years of trying to make two diametrically opposed policy strands coexist - on the one hand, the pious, grudging "acceptance"

of membership as a reality (thanks very much) and on the other the explicit belief that it was the wrong choice for the country to make, repeated ad nauseam by Dr Sant and others.

The fact that Labour leaders are so ready to jump triumphantly on any news, however trivial, that might be construed as EU-negative shows just how shallow Labour's "conversion" has been.

Yet again, Dr Sant has shown his unhesitating willingness to put his own interests before those of his party. His country comes a distant third.

Dr Borg is Minister of Foreign Affairs