Marisa and Mandy

When UK Labour Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said he was ready to work for the Tories if the Labour government was not re-elected, he caused quite a stir. Some people were amused by the brazenness of the prime Labour spinner, dubbed 'The Prince of Darkness', and his readiness to switch sides.

Over at Tory headquarters, they were soon quick to dispel any rumours that 'Mandy' would be joining the party he had lambasted so frequently in the past. A spokesman said: "We are building a broad coalition, but including Peter Mandelson may be stretching it." Another commentator simply remarked: "Well, you know what they say about rats abandoning a sinking ship..."

Marisa Micallef's defection from Nationalist darling to Labour adviser has provoked the same sort of reaction. Following a fairly long spell as chairman of the Housing Authority - a period characterised by her writing gushing articles in praise of Lawrence Gonzi, Micallef resigned and left for pastures new in England.

Then a couple of months ago, we witnessed the return of the former Nationalist candidate. But this time as a reformed woman. She no longer describes Gonzi as a man who is "as modest as can be and we should all just emulate him" (The Malta Independent, February 7, 2005).

Micallef seems to have forgotten her words a few short years ago. Back in January 2005 she had cooed in ecstasy on catching sight of the Prime Minister, "Last night when I watched the news and saw Gonzi and his beautiful, simply elegant turned out wife Kate, being their own natural, lovely selves among the public who came to greet them with new year wishes, I thought what a let-down it would be if we do not allow Gonzi to succeed. We could not have anyone better to represent this tribal nation..."

The loveliness of Gonzi does not seem to impress Micallef anymore and her missives to the press (even prior to her Labour appointment) took on another tone. We read about appointments and plum jobs for the select few (the irony of a former political appointee making such statements seems to have escaped Micallef).

There were wry little letters about the people who replaced Micallef. And then, suddenly, Micallef became the new PL poster girl, embarking on what she calls an interesting project following "the middle way". She insists that her move is not that of a turncoat but a "natural transition".

Followers of the political scene may be forgiven for being highly sceptical and perplexed about how "natural" this transition was. It's not that Micallef has not written articles which are critical of the government. She has (though most of them are focused on the arrogance of the intriguingly unnamed Young Turks within the PN). In fact, she has been writing "why oh why?" articles for some time, lamenting the way the PN has distanced itself from the middle-class and imploring ministers to copy Gonzi who - back in 2005 - was for her "the best PM we could have".

Even though she has been mildly critical of the PN, she was true to the Nationalist faith even when the administration which appointed her took the decisions which had the most harmful and long-lasting repercussions for the country. When the Nationalist government (headed by the "lovely" Gonzi) extended the development zones, Micallef did not resign in protest. No, she remained safely ensconced in office.

What did Micallef do when she learnt about a hotel built illegally on public land and sanctioned for a pittance? Did she rip up her PN membership card and condemn the business interests which run the country, as she did in an article published a fortnight ago? She didn't (perhaps she was trying to bring about change from the inside).

Where was Micallef when the PN government did next to nothing about alternative energy sources, our roads? What did she do when jobs, housing and contracts were handed out to a select few, as she claims? Strangely, she didn't distance herself from government - then.

I guess she only realised the error of its ways when the job she had resigned from was no longer available and the PL is set for a victory at the polls in 2013.

It doesn't look much like a natural transition to me - more of a mad sprint to a bandwagon weighed down with over-excited converts flapping their pashminas and trilling on about the need for change, when they haven't done anything to bring about this change for the last decade or so.

I dislike blind tribal loyalty and admire people who are not afraid to renounce the party allegiances if their party is not acting correctly. It takes courage to cross the political divide, especially when this is done out of conviction. Party membership or allegiance is not necessarily a lifelong commitment. Rather, it is the my-party-right-or-wrong mentality which is to blame for much of the country's woes. However, hitching one's wagon to whichever political party's star happens to be in the ascendancy is another deplorable tendency which is just as off-putting.

• The engagement of Micallef did not go down well with rank-and-file Labour supporters. They must be wondering why they have to foot the bill to employ someone who once wrote that "Labour leaders always have this funny relationship with power. They get the sort of buzz from the absolute control of their core supporters that no other party can enjoy. Certainly PN leaders don't have that - and thank God for it."(The Malta Independent, January 24, 2005).

Even if they had to let bygones be bygones and forget the way Micallef described Labour supporters as including a good percentage of "people who believe one thing one day and another the next" (January 3, 2005), they wouldn't have been too impressed by Micallef's latest contribution to the press.

Entitled 'The blurred kingdom', it is a cringe-inducing parable about a blue king (the Prime Minister) and a half-blood prince (Joseph Muscat, not Harry Potter) who battle it out in a pretty little kingdom peopled by blues and reds.

An acquaintance who is completely apolitical but whose predictions are always spot-on, told me: "If this is what they're paying her for, they should ask for a refund." Quite.

However, it would appear that Micallef's main role is not to write in the press, but to attract people of her ilk to the Labour fold. Muscat has made his calculations and reckoned that it's disgruntled Nationalists who will tip the scales in the next election.

Whether Micallef will lure them remains to be seen. Perhaps keeping away from the keyboard would be a good to start.

cl.bon@nextgen.net.mt