Austin Gatt to MPs: ‘early elections mean landslide defeat’

Transport Minister Austin Gatt warned MPs during yesterday's PN parliamentary group that a March election will lead to a landslide defeat "like the PN has never seen before", sources have told MaltaToday.

It was a disconcerting statement for MPs to hear during the meeting that discussed the prospect of imminent elections as Lawrence Gonzi's MPs swore loyalty to the prime minister and burnt their last bridge with backbencher Franco Debono by calling for his resignation from the House.

Gatt is expected to be an integral part of the PN's electoral machine after the prime minister on Sunday invited him to enter the war-room if he does not run for office.

Backbenchers who spoke to MaltaToday after yesterday's parliamentary meeting shared their suspicion that the Tuesday meeting was strategically planned to coincide with an extended edition of Bondiplus that saw Franco Debono exasperate his interviewer with his spirited repartee.

"During the meeting, [backbencher] Jean-Pierre Farrugia at one point raised the point that the social media were calling Debono 'mad' and said that it was absolutely not true," one MP told this newspaper about the plethora of Facebook posts and blogposts attacking the MP.

Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando was also reported to have called the attacks on Debono's family "unacceptable" and that they should stop immediately.

But it was Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi who took a stand on the matter, saying he disagreed with Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia's posts on her blog and that the personal attacks on Franco Debono and his family "are not on".

While the PN yesterday demanded Franco Debono's resignation, Pullicino Orlando was reported to have advised against denouncing Debono as a traitor to the party.

"He said that doing the same thing Alfred Sant had done with Mintoff in 1998 would be counter-productive. He said the PN shouldn't isolate Debono and be less specific when it comes to a statement," one MP present at the meeting said.

Pullicino Orlando later said on One TV's Realtà that the party statement had not been entirely read out before it was issued, with some backbenchers expressing dismay with MaltaToday that the statement did not convey the spirit displayed in the meeting.

The MPs also discussed the possible strategy to be employed by Opposition leader Joseph Muscat, aware as they are that a hardcore faction inside the party is demanding an immediate call for a vote of no-confidence.

Muscat may be mulling his options as the government has yet to face a money bill, the Budget Measures Implimentation Bill, that has the same effect as a no-confidence vote if Franco Debono votes against the government as he said he will.

The Labour media is claiming the Nationalist party's internal polls are showing very negative results. Maltastar.com says polls in December 2011 show voter support for the PN was eight points behind Labour's 54% support.

Lawrence Gonzi yesterday held a meeting with his party's administration at 5pm, before meeting MPs to discuss his government's endangered one-seat majority. It was a meeting that lasted just over two hours, with the PN issuing a statement calling for backbencher Franco Debono's resignation and accusing him of being disloyal towards his constituents, the PN and the prime minister.

There is no doubt that all Lawrence Gonzi can do is play for time with the imminent prospect of Franco Debono voting against a money bill that has the same effect of a no-confidence vote for government.