Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told MPs at the Nationalist parliamentary group this week that he had enough material on his mobile phone to hit at backbencher Franco Debono but he would not.

According to sources close to the party, Dr Gonzi told the MPs: “The personal attacks against Franco (Debono) must stop. They are not on . . . I will not go down the road of using SMSs he sent me against him.”

The sources said Dr Gonzi and PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier had been “flooded” with text messages and e-mails from Dr Debono, sent at all hours over the past years.

The first indication of the existence of this exchange came on Saturday when PN spokesman Frank Psaila told timesofmalta.com that Dr Debono should publish all SMSs and e-mails sent by him to Prime Minister Gonzi and Dr Borg Olivier.

Sources said Dr Gonzi’s declaration that he was against personal attacks on Dr Debono and his family was welcomed with applause.

During the meeting, other MPs commented on the onslaught against Dr Debono through Facebook and other blogs.

Since he declared war on Lawrence Gonzi last Friday, Dr Debono found himself at the receiving end of seething criticism by many PN supporters. Some of the chiding took a humorous tone with the appearance of spoof video clips and doctored pictures.

In other parts, the criticism has been far from comic and even took the form of veiled threats on Facebook.

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