You turn if you want to...

The news last Monday that Lawrence Gonzi changed his position again on the divorce referendum was the only credible and predictable story coming from Castille in some time. It fitted a pattern of inconsistency. The Prime Minister, anxious to offend neither side of the divorce divide and worried he does not have a united parliamentary group to back him, is maybe not realising he is coming across as a dithering pixie.

Dr Gonzi’s ratings keep sliding and political observers date a severe dip from the day it was revealed he and his Cabinet members gave themselves a phenomenal pay rise while lesser mortals got a mere €1.16.

The slithery slope then proceeded. Admittedly, in the real world, politicians have to make difficult decisions which aren’t going to please everyone. But Dr Gonzi’s electors were promised leadership by means of “a steady pair of hands”. Instead, they got served this wobbly bowl of jelly for policies, changing the flavour every day. Odd to promise that “together anything is possible” and, yet, lack the most vital criteria to make that happen: decisiveness and direction.

If Dr Gonzi can’t stay true to what he really believes – or what he says he really believes – then how can we have any real faith in him as our Prime Minister?

For instance, the referendum-yes-referendum-no-referendum-yes fiasco, as though he was picking out the petals of a sunflower, is another iconic mistake that continues to blow away what may be left of the Prime Minister’s credibility. His followers are asking: Where are his plans? What are his plans? But the box of secrets seems to be empty.

Last month, the Prime Minister told us the divorce issue will be settled by a referendum as there is no electoral mandate to introduce the law. Then he told us first we must discuss the Bill in Parliament and then, if it goes through, there will be a referendum. The Prime Minister will vote against the Bill but he hopes the electorate would have the opportunity to vote in a referendum. How can that be when in the same breath he was saying that if the Bill does not pass things will stop there and he would be voting for that to happen? So, last weekend's position was against the holding of a referendum. On Sunday he reiterated what had been stated on the previous day.

So, this time, the Prime Minister was consistent. But only for the weekend. Forty-eight hours on and Monday we see a 360 degrees turn, which got Dr Gonzi right where he started from last January. Finally, the Prime Minister tells us he’s all for a referendum as proposed in the motion signed by all Labour MPs... phew, that’s enough to make even my cat dizzy.

Indecision, inconsistency and lack of credibility have become the order of the Prime Minister’s day.

Those my age and older must remember the famous declaration by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher: “You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning.” I can just see our Premier’s biography on my bookshelf in some years: Lawrence Gonzi: The Man Is For Turning.

The problem is he is not turning for conviction but for mere convenience: that of holding on to his flaccid one-seat majority.

I wrote this piece in Parliament last Wednesday while we were waiting for the Speaker’s ruling. After a very long interval, he provided me with my conclusion, albeit a forgone one.

The Speaker clumsily gave the government the shot in the arm it so needed when he declared the opposition’s request for a vote on the motion for the adjournment of the House was made after the interruption of business and could not be accepted. The fact is the request was made before.

The government was nevertheless saved by the bell yet again, its ringing jarring us to the reality of partisanship where it shouldn’t be. Labour’s motion had majority support and, conveniently, the Prime Minister wanted to avoid a vote.

The Speaker obliged and the debate was stopped against the will of the majority of the MPs.

The antics of the Prime Minister are those of one who finds himself between a rock and a hard place. Which is where he is, amid the estimated 40,000 Nationalist Party voters who want divorce and whom he is trying to appease by suggesting cohabitation law, and the Church, which will cause him problems if he goes down this road. All this is, naturally, taking its toll on the Prime Minister who keeps going round in circles.

The question remains: Which policy plank will the Prime Minister walk?

Dr Dalli is shadow minister for the public service and government investment.