CONDUCT BECOMING

Oh dear, it was obvious that the divorce question was going to exercise pious old ladies and clerical gentlemen of the less tolerant variety, but now we're being regaled with the sight of no less than two politicians getting hot enough under the collar to think about resignation.

Dr Austin Gatt thinks divorce is so heinous that he would resign from the House if the Nationalist Party took a position in favour, while Mr Pullicino Orlando would go the other way, though his resignation would be from the Nationalist Party and quite definitely not the House, if he is not allowed a free vote to vote in favour of his own Private Member's Motion.

Given that the whole thing is going to be decided by a referendum anyway, misguided and craven though that solution may be, I would submit that Pullicino Orlando is - once again - grandstanding for the sake of it.

What has been taken, quite inaccurately by those who are gagging for it, as a threat to bring down the Government (you don't bring down the Government by playing silly buggers about divorce) is actually nothing more than (yet another) demonstration by Pullicino Orlando that he sorely lacks a certain grasp of the way party membership works.

It's quite simple, really: if you don't like what your party is doing, and it is of sufficient importance to you, you resign but, and the but is a big one, that brings with it the obligation to resign whatever position membership of the party brought you, in this instance membership of the House.

This applies unless Pullicino Orlando thinks he was elected to the office of Honourable Member of Parliament solely on the strength of his personal attributes. Does he really think that if he had stood as an independent he would have been elected? Like the Catholic Church, membership of a political party (any party) is not an exercise in a la carte selections and franchi tiratori are not admirable members of the species Onorevoli.

Dr Gatt, on the other, demonstrates a clear understanding of his obligations and while I don't agree with his stance (I'm with Pullicino Orlando on whether divorce should be introduced) I salute the cohesiveness of his position.