Gatt snubs PN group reception after vote, Gonzi thanks Debono for support

Transport Minister Austin Gatt yesterday made a swift exit from parliament after Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi clinched a vote of confidence with the support of rebellious backbencher Franco Debono, who the week earlier abstained on a no confidence motion against Gatt.

Accompanied by an entourage of ministry officials, canvassers and his son (who was tweeting regularly yesterday's debate from the Strangers' Gallery) Gatt left his parliamentary office and walked past the Prime Minister’s office while all MPs – including Franco Debono – were gathered for drinks.

The whole Nationalist parliamentary group was informed of the brief get-together by party whip David Agius, who personally communicated the invitation as the MPs gathered in the House for the vote.

During the reception, Gonzi was heard looking out for Franco Debono, asking “where is Franco?” until the MP walked up to him, with the prime minister embracing him and thanking him for his vote of support.

“I never had any issue with the Prime Minister,” Debono told MaltaToday as he later left parliament, and added that he had made this much clear when he declared his voting intentions in the House. “All government needs is to be vigilant when implementing reforms, and that the Prime Minister cannot be left alone to assume the burden of responsibility when his men let him down.”

Austin Gatt’s absence from last night’s parliamentary group gathering raised questions regarding his relationship with Gonzi.

Earlier in the day, Gonzi announced that he was to lead a task force together with parliamentary secretary Chris Said, Police Commissioner John Rizzo and AFM Commander Brigadier Martin Xuereb.

Austin Gatt has hailed Gonzi’s decision as a “good idea” and said he would remain politically responsible for public transport.

Following events that unfolded last week after Franco Debono’s abstention on the Labour motion against Gatt on the public transport reform fiasco, the bullish minister may have good reason to feel bruised about this latest debacle.

Over the past three years, Gatt has seen his portfolio diminish from the super-ministry of major government investments he once held, apart from the e-government revolution which he has so far commanded superbly.

In 2009, he lost responsibility for Air Malta, Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation, which were suddenly passed on to finance minister Tonio Fenech shortly after the airline's fortunes nose-dived and the Delimara power extension engulfed government in new sleaze allegations from Labour.

Not being part of the newly set-up task force on public transport headed by the Prime Minister must have come as another blow to Gatt. 

Meanwhile, the PN also stepped in to clip the wings of Gatt’s most trusted man, Manuel Delia, who heads the ministry’s secretariat, runs policy coordination, and piloted the public transport routes which had to eventually be redrawn. Not once, but five times, or 79% of the original plan as Arriva Malta said.

Delia, who represented himself as PN candidate for the next general elections, received a public reprimand from the party for campaigning when he was not yet approved by the party’s executive. The move has surely dented Delia’s political aspirations, perhaps permanently, and his standing within the ministry.

Apart from that, Delia's handicap on the fifth district opens up more room in this electoral battleground for its current heavyweight: Franco Debono.