Grech pushed by Muscat to be Labour’s answer to Busuttil

Louis Grech, the only contestant for Labour’s deputy leadership post, says he will 'work for Malta and its citizens, not the other way round'

24 December 2012, 12:00am

2 min read

Labour MEP Louis Grech.

The 'forced' resignation of Labour's deputy leader Anglu Farrugia convinced party leader Joseph Muscat to call on the PL executive and risk going for an election for a new deputy leader for parliamentary affairs.

Muscat's lieutenants lobbied for a one-man contest after the Labour executive agreed that the first priority should be unity. In fact there was unanimity in the executive meeting and agreement that the new deputy leader selected would push forward the 'aspirations' of New Labour.

Even before the executive meeting began, Joseph Muscat's closest advisers were already eyeing former Air Malta chief and Labour Europarliamentarian Louis Grech as the ideal candidate. Asked what he could offer to the Labour camp, he told MaltaToday: "As deputy leader I will hopefully be in a stronger position - drawing from my different life experiences - to give added value and improve the quality of life in our society, especially where the ordinary, anonymous citizen is concerned. In other words, a government that truly works for its citizens and not only the other way round."

MaltaToday is informed that Grech, who is a Europarliamentarian and is widely respected in the business community, is viewed as the perfect choice to attract the disgruntled Nationalist voter. More importantly, he is deemed a worthy opponent to Simon Busuttil, the newly elected deputy leader of the PN.

Though Muscat used Anglu Farrugia's critique of Magistrate Audrey Demicoli as his reason for calling for the resignation of Farrugia, it is widely believed that Farrugia's disastrous performance on Xarabank was a central factor in the decision to ask Farrugia to leave.

Anglu Farrugia was widely criticised by the PN-friendly media for being unsuitable for the post. His lack of charisma and ability to articulate an argument also had an adverse effect on his popularity with middle-of-the-road voters. Grech is being seen as the ideal choice for the media-savvy Labour party.

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Jekk kif qed tghidu intom l-gazzetti li Anglu gie mitlub jirrezenja minnhabba li qata figura mhix sabiha fil-konfront ma Simon fuq Xarabank kieku Joseph Muscat ma kienx se joqgod jistenna li Anglu jkun imsiefer biex jitoblu jirresenja imma kien jitolbu jew dakinhar stess il-Gimgha jew is-Sibt. U la ma garax hekk mela bil-fors li Joseph Muscat talab ir-rizenja ta' Anglu Farrugia ghax qal li qal fuq il-Magistrat. U Joseph wera kemm hu leader efficenti u tajjeb u ta' kellma li min jizgarra m'ghandux triq ohra li jirrezenja inkella jitnehha, haga li l-PN qatt ma ghamilha anzi ghamel bil-kontra heba d-dnubiet tal-hatja u ghannaqhom mieghu u ghamel minn kollox biex ma jirrezenjawx. Tara x'differenza kbira hemm bejn il-PL u GonziPN hux.

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"More importantly, he is deemed a worthy opponent to Simon Busuttil,......" is this statement for real what credentials has Simon to be made worthy, he failed on the FRONTEX issue and failed on the Burden Sharing matter, secretly voting for a Health Document that also included aboprtions issue unlike the labour MEPs who voiced reservations on that part. Simon can hardly be called an opponet to Louis Grech the fact that he's not his own man makes him a liability.