Nationalist deputy leader Simon Busuttil yesterday said he would work tirelessly to prove to doubters he was ready to work alongside them.

Dr Busuttil won a resounding majority in the two-man race for the deputy leadership post last Friday despite the fact that almost every Cabinet minister had endorsed the other candidate, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech.

In his first public speech since winning the contest, Dr Busuttil’s thoughts yesterday turned to those who had voted for Mr Fenech.

“I won with a strong vote in my favour but 241 people voted for my friend Tonio. I must now show them that I want to work with everyone,” he said at a dialogue meeting at the PN club in Tarxien.

Seated less than two metres away from Dr Busuttil was Small Business Minister Jason Azzopardi, one of Mr Fenech’s many high-profile endorsers.

The election was “still sinking in”, Dr Busuttil said, but it was proof of the PN’s willingness to embrace change.

“People say they want change, but of faces, not of policies or results. People are happy with those. And we’re giving them exactly that,” he said.

Dr Busuttil embraced the Prime Minister’s line that it was the PN, rather than Labour, that offered real change, dismissing PL deputy leaders Anġlu Farrugia and Toni Abela as “dinosaurs: for their ideas and for what they represent”.

He asked the audience to compare the PN and PL parliamentary benches. “How many MPs were around in 1987? Perhaps two on our side while the PL could put together a whole football team.”

PN electoral candidate Victor Scerri warned the 30-strong audience that change was not necessarily for the better.

“Look what happened on the fifth district. People wanted change from Louis Galea. How did that work out?” he asked, in a dig at MP Franco Debono, elected on the district at the expense of PN veteran Dr Galea.

Dr Busuttil made it clear he expected Dr Debono to “shoulder his responsibility” and vote in favour of the Budget.

He admitted the PN had a lot of ground to cover if it wanted to win the election but insisted it could still be done.

“Thousands aren’t feeling comfortable with giving us their vote. We have to win their trust and remind them what the best thing for the country is. If we do that, we can win.”

Dr Busuttil’s sentiments were echoed by fellow MEP David Casa, who said he considered Dr Busuttil to be “almost a brother” after eight years working side-by-side in the European Parliament.

“Simon taught me the art of being calm and measured. He’s a magnet for those who have never voted for the PN and he will help make Malta even more European,” Mr Casa said.

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