Former-Ex Minister Manwel Mallia is clearly betting on it.   

Betting on the fact that your common-or-garden Labour punter (or member of the chattering classes, for that matter) doesn't bother reading anything beyond the headline or the first couple of lines of a story, that is.

We of the commenting classes have become used to the fact that our words are twisted and mangled beyond recognition by Premier Muscat's Trolls & Minions.  

When we are described a mongers of hate for daring to voice even the slightest criticism of a thought process (or what passes for one) or when comments pop up below our stuff that clearly prove that the writer has failed, or chosen to fail, to understand what was written plainly, we simply shrug, smile wryly and put it down to the usual.

The usual being that the afore-mentioned T&Ms don't choose to use the intellectual capacity with which they may have been blessed but opt for invective, invention and ineffectual spluttering.

Such is life, the good thing is that they only convince themselves nowadays, in the manner of scared kiddy-winks whistling in the dark.  

This is what Ex-Former-Minister Mallia is banking on.  

Since he, for reasons that are patently obvious to anyone who sees things for what they are, has recklessly chosen to politicise an issue that is of national importance, the Nasty Nats ("Nazzis" as the T&Ms have them lately) will a) be labelled as traitorous swine and b) blamed for it if things go wrong up in Brussels for the gaming industry.

It will be utterly useless for the PN to point out that a) it has not and will not vote against Malta's interests and b) it is Minister-Not-Former Minister Mallia's responsibility to get it right, not theirs.

Current-Not-Former Minister Mallia obviously wants to ride on the nifty little band-wagon the Trolls & Minions have put into motion, that by not ensuring that Leo Brincat is anointed to the Court of Auditors, PN MEPs have shown themselves to be traitorous swine who will therefore "Vote Against the National Interest" at next drop of a hat.

Leo Brincat, for all his many attributes, is not "Malta" and his failures to date were his and Premier Muscat's, not the country's

Now Ex-Ex Minister Mallia, if nothing else, is endowed with street smarts.   He knows that Leo Brincat got nixed, at least thus far, through no fault of the Nats (he knows the fault lies in Castille). 

He also knows that Leo Brincat, for all his many attributes, is not "Malta" and his failures to date were his and Premier Muscat's, not the country's.

Ex-Dismissed Minister Mallia also knows that the Nationalists have always made it clear that they will vote on issues of national (rather than Labour) interest in the interests of the country, and have no problem going against the Bruxellian Whip if it comes to it.  

If for no other reason, they have to, as their finger pointing at Leo Brincat for his craven caving to the Malta Whip will ring false and no mistake.

But as they say, needs must and all that, so if it is necessary to instil a good dose of political poison into a story, then so be it, and hang the possibility that it will work against the country's interests in the long run. 

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