Ten years later

It was more than ten years ago that I was invited to talk - very briefly - before Eddie Fenech Adami's closing speech at Luxol. It was 6 March, 2003. Two days later, Malta would be voting in a referendum. I spoke at 11.15pm and called on all those who said that they were social democrats to vote for Europe. Then - unlike now - being associated with the PN was 'sexy'.  To be pro-EU was the in thing.

Alfred Sant's anti-EU stance would mean that Labour would lose for yet another time at the polls. Even so, the Labour party would retain Sant as leader.

Ten years later, Sant is standing for the European parliamentary elections.

That was some time ago, and after that date, my relations with the PN spiralled downwards and completely out of control.

A year later, the entire PN executive - 14 in all - were suing MaltaToday for libel after a newpaper report described a drinks party after Gonzi's leadership victory over John Dalli. The relationship would continue to turn sour. I blame this siege mentality on people like Joe Saliba, Edgar Galea Curmi, Gordon Pisani, Richard Cachia Caruana and Lawrence Gonzi himself.

When the adverts and TVM boycott did not work, the Queen of Bile and Mr Bondi himself unleashed their venom and hate talk.

The situation deteriorated so badly that we could not even get as far as conducting an interview with the prime minister.

When I received a phone call from Chris Said last Tuesday to interview Simon Busuttil at The Granaries in Floriana, I accepted at once.

Arriving at the venue, I could sense the apprehension of many of those who consider MaltaToday to be one of the main reasons for the PN's disastrous electoral result in March of this year.

Even a family relative who was in the crowd chose to look the other way. 

A policeman in civilian clothes came up to me complaining about a story that was written in 2010, suggesting that I wrote the article to stand up for a discotheque bouncer. He would not accept the fact that I never talked to the bouncer in my life.

It is of course part of my job to be greeted by angry bystanders.

So the questions I put to Simon Busuttil about meritocracy and the PN's abysmal history with political patronage did not help.

But I greeted the booing with a laugh - insisting that I preferred to be booed rather than applauded.

That eased the tension a bit.

I asked Busuttil how he could be taken seriously when Gonzi, as prime minister, had appointed his closest friends and associates to run organisations such as Malta Enterprise and MEPA (I was of course referring to Alan Camilleri and Austin Walker).

Busuttil spoke well, but he seems to forget that some of us still have a grasp on our memories.

He still lashed out at the nepotism in Muscat's government, creating the impression that the PN in government implemented a much better form of meritocracy. 

It did not, and throughout its 25 years it worked under the same political blinkers the Mintoffian and Sant administration had applied.

But I let Busuttil talk.

To be fair, Sant had tried to change all this.

Even on China and Enemalta, he stood his ground, but he was not quite clear and rather convoluted in articulating his opposition to Chinese investment.

But the crowds still cheered and clapped whenever he presented them with a catchphrase or threw a grenade at Muscat.

On the Nationalist Party's financial crisis, he surmised that the reason the party was in this mess was because the government was focused on governing. 

Responding to the applause, he declared that the PN are a poor party "because we have left you with a rich country".

I had neither the time nor the opportunity to point out to him that many preferred bidders and contractors close the party had become super rich and that the party's mismanagement and financial mess was mostly due to Joe Saliba's mismanagement and Paul Borg Olivier's failures.

In the celebrations leading to Independence Day, the PN has tried to rekindle some nostalgia. They have done this by bringing in the ageing generals which included Richard Muscat, Sandy Cachia Zammit and Michael Refalo. 

They may have galvanised the very old faces at The Granaries, but they have a history with the PN that would make people like me turn around and simply say, "what the f***?!"

Richard Muscat in particular, with his appalling Irish ambassadorship and mismanagement of the Voice of the Mediterranean, reminds me of how Fenech Adami was willing to excuse the mistakes of his friends.

Sandy Cachia Zammit, to many, is the arch conservative - just the man who failed to embody what the PN is suggesting it should stand for: a modern party. And Michael Refalo is a former minister who reminds me of his former chief canvasser, Silvio Zammit (whom the Queen of Bile vilified in order to get at John Dalli before the last election).

Later, after it was all over, I asked Simon Busuttil whether he found his public role too demanding. He looked at me and told me that he was enjoying every single moment.

I think he truly wishes to change the party and transform it into a fighting force.  But to do this he needs to invest in the younger generation, and he also needs to redefine - or reinvent - what the PN stands for.

It could very well be that Simon Busuttil has not quite understood that he may have invaded some of the territory that was traditionally considered to be Labour turf.

He may have to retrace his steps to the pre-1987 days, when the PN was supporting the budding ecological movement, the social groups and championing workers' rights.

Busuttil has probably failed to realise that the Labour Party is not at all on the left - it is, in fact, centre right. If it wants to stand for anything, it has to position itself as it did when it was in opposition before 1987.

The worst thing that Busuttil could do is to give the impression that it can be better than the Labour Party.

It's not about being better, it's about being different. And to truly be different, one should start by taking a stand on issues which are fundamentally ignored and sidelined by Labour.

It will be a gargantuan task, considering the freshness and youth of Muscat's team.

As I closed the interview, I noticed that many of the Gonzi acolytes - Robert Cutajar, David Casa and others - purposely avoided me. The Busuttil acolytes were easier to get along with, and more welcoming.

As I sat down to have a white glass of Pearly White, a young deaf and dumb man approached Busuttil to be photographed. Busuttil stood up and smiled and embraced the young man. It seemed very genuine.

Others also asked to be photographed.

As I left, I noticed that some people in the crowd were smiling.

David Agius accompanied me to the perimeter of the Independence celebrations and joked, "I don't care what they'll say when they see me with you."

I don't know if Busuttil will win the next election.

But on that night, it appeared pretty certain that he would be leading the PN until the next election.