While the usual GonziPN spin doctors are torturing Toni Abela for his mesmerising stance on abortion, Lawrence Gonzi is watching his back and manoeuvring more hat tricks to reduce the bickering, squabbles and unrest among his backbenchers. Jesmond Mugliett, Jean Pierre Farrugia, Franco Debono, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and now Philip Mifsud are all with their mouths wide open and very soon Robert Musumeci will open his too. Louis Galea will now keep his mouth closed and John Dalli would keep quiet until the iron is hot.
Dr Pullicino Orlando questioned Dr Gonzi's decision to select Mr Dalli for the European Commissioner's post, pronouncing Richard Caruana Cachia to be a better choice.
JPO, who has on more than one occasion criticised Dr Gonzi over several decisions taken by the Nationalist government, is now querying whether the choice of Mr Dalli in Brussels and Dr Galea to the European auditors' court was more motivated by political convenience than by the national interest.
In an interview on One news, he said that Mr Cachia Caruana was a more qualified person to be European Commissioner than Mr Dalli. He also questioned the wisdom behind letting Dr Galea leave his post to take up another seat in Europe and whether Dr Gonzi was losing some of his best men for his own political survival.
Mr Mifsud, the quiet one, said the PN was running out of time to repair the damage it had done to itself. "Labour today is not the same opposition it was two years ago. The opposition is present, on the ball, and reactive on many fronts, not to mention that it has more intelligence than before." Also, according to Mr Mifsud, "the PN has a lot of homework to do."
Dr Gonzi is very well focused on his party's salvage operation and would probably keep his ailing boat afloat and roll it safely to shore for the moment of truth, election time, when his GonziPN would receive its pay-off. Meanwhile, 60 per cent plus of the electorate has to push their disgust in their pipes and smoke it. Complaining about the fact that 1,450 people are to be blamed for all the mess will get us nowhere. This is democracy.