Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told party delegates last weekend that his was a united government, one that would win strong and unequivocal backing in Parliament tomorrow.
Tomorrow is when the House will debate a motion of no confidence in Dr Muscat and his government presented by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, in the wake of the revelations over the secretive companies held in Panama by Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s right-hand man Keith Schembri.
That shocker came two months ago. Since then, there has been a drip-drip of further explosive allegations – most em-erging from the Panama Papers – about both men’s financial structures and arrangements. This has mired them in suspicions so serious it is difficult to see how they can recover. Whether or not they have done anything illegal, politically they are dead men walking, hanging on only because the Prime Minister has failed to do what was expected of him in such damning circumstances: sacking both of them.
Both have steadfastly denied wrongdoing and refused to step down, but before deciding on their future, Dr Muscat has opted to wait for the results of tax audits, while confusingly saying he will consider public sentiment.
In his speech last Sunday he made a clear distinction between illegality and what is right and correct. But instead of abiding by his own declared standard, he has prevaricated and delayed. This has drawn legitimate questions from the Opposition about whether he too is involved in some way, as well as the justifiable charge that he bears ultimate responsibility for this mess.
This has prompted Dr Busuttil to move a no-confidence motion in Dr Muscat and his government – rather than in Mr Mizzi and Mr Schembri alone. In terms of immediate political gain, pursuing the latter path might have been the more effective one, given that a number of senior government figures have made public their desire for the two to go. A motion targeting the alleged wrongdoers might have forced them to stand up and be counted, and driven a wedge into the heart of Labour.
It is to Dr Busuttil’s credit that his approach appears to be based more on principle than political tactics. It is obvious – and he has no illusions about it – that Labour MPs will rally around their leader tomorrow. However, his motion is in line with the position he has adopted: that of casting grave doubts over Dr Muscat’s trustworthiness and assigning final blame to him for the situation that has evolved.
The PN has well and truly seized the moral high ground. It has held two well-attended ‘national’ protests against corruption to rightly maintain public pressure on the government. It has put the country on the Panama Papers map for the right reasons, perhaps mitigating some of the shame right-minded people feel about the Panama Papers tag Malta has earned for the wrong reasons.
In appealing to Labour MPs to back his motion, Dr Busuttil says he is not after an early election. The problem is, in the unlikely event of the motion going through, an election would be one of only two avenues open to the Prime Minister, the other being for the President to ask another member of the House to seek majority support.
But given the realities on the ground, that discussion is academic. Tomorrow, the Opposition will lose the vote but win a moral victory on behalf of the growing numbers who feel Dr Muscat has badly mishandled this sordid affair.
It will leave the Prime Minister still needing to acknowledge public feeling with action, not words. It is the only way he can attempt to claw back some of the credibility and trust he has dramatically squandered over the last few weeks. It is what his own people want.