Nationalist MP Franco Debono said today that his contacts with the prime minister yesterday, before the no-confidence vote in the minister of home affairs, hinged on Dr Mifsud Bonnici's resignation from Leader of the House, which the minister announced yesterday morning.

Reacting to comments made by the prime minister this morning Dr Debono told timesofmalta.com that he never asked to be appointed Leader of the House and he made it known that he would not have accepted had the post been offered.

Prime Minister Gonzi in his comments this morning confirmed that there were contacts with Dr Debono to try and find a "solution" before the actual vote on the motion of no confidence in Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici.

"My door was always open," he said, adding that he would be lying if he said he had been sure that Dr Debono would vote with the Opposition in yesterday's vote.

A solution "could not be found", Dr Gonzi said, when asked to confirm whether there were discussions on the appointment of Dr Debono as Leader of the House instead of Dr Mifsud Bonnici.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici had announced when he started his speech yesterday that he was prepared to give up his post as Leader of the House if the no-confidence motion was not approved.

Dr Gonzi said there were three consequences of yesterday's vote - the resignation of Dr Mifsud Bonnici, the acceptance of that resignation and the decision to call the confidence vote for this Monday.

The Prime Minister added that it was his duty to govern the country for the term of this legislature according to the rules of democracy - indicating that he would not call an early election unless the government loses Monday's vote of confidence.

Dr Gonzi accused Labour leader Joseph Muscat of reaching the apex of "superficial, opportunistic politics" yesterday, saying that the debate in Parliament unmasked Dr Muscat.

"Dr Muscat will be the one to face the most serious consequences of yesterday's vote," he said, reiterating that there was no valid reason to force Dr Mifsud Bonnici to step down.

Dr Gonzi added that in the face of all the storms the country was facing, it still managed to obtain impressive economic results as shown in the most recent report by the European Commission.

DEBONO'S REACTION

Dr Debono said he was possibly the MP who had spoken most strongly about the need to reform parliament, giving it dignity and autonomy, and the fact that Dr Mifsud Bonnici had decided to step down from his post as Leader of the House meant that he was partly assuming responsibility.

"During the talks, I did not ask for anything but I was offered a lot and for this I wish to thank the prime minister. The only specific thing I asked of the prime minister was for him to condemn a particular blogger for a vile attack on my mother, in the same way as he had directly condemned The Times when it carried a letter attacking an MP," Dr Debono said. He asked whether such attacks were psychological violence on innocent persons.

The MP said he made his request even before the vote on the Budget Implementation Measure and on the following Sunday, which happened to be Mother's Day, the  PM did condemn in a vague and evasive manner but no one made the connection.

Dr Debono said that as Home Affairs Minister, Carm Mifsud Bonnici should have ensured that adequate libel laws were in place so that innocent people could protect anddefend their human dignity.

Dr Debono would not reveal what he was actually offered, other than to say that the offers were meant to put him in a stronger position to further the reforms about which everybody agreed. (Dr Debono is currently president of the House Committee for the Consolidation of Laws).

Asked whether he had objected to the reappointment of Tonio Borg as Leader of the House, Dr Debono said that it was strange that he had been reappointed after having been removed from the post. Furthermore, after his years in that post, Parliament was not in good shape and needed reforms.

Dr Gonzi in his speech in parliament yesterday, shortly before the vote, did call on bloggers and other members of the media not to make personal attacks on politicians or their families, but did not mention anyone.

Informed sources said that Dr Debono's complaint to the prime minister was about a blog by Daphne Caruana Galizia on January 8 when she wrote that Dr Debono's mother 'should be arrested and charged with crimes against the state for foisting her tifel biezel on us'.

Meanwhile Opposition leader Joseph Muscat, when speaking in Gudja this evening condemned Ms Caruana Galizia's comments on Dr Debono's mother and said the prime minister should act to stop such attacks.

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