Xarabank cancelled in Debono gatecrash after Labour pulls out Anglu Farrugia
Simon Busuttil does not debate Debono, ‘Labour a cowardly party’ • Labour: Busuttil refused two encounters with Farrugia
Updated with comments from PBS chief executive Anton Attard, Xarabank presenter Joe Azzopardi, PN statement, and comments from Simon Busuttil, Franco Debono, Paul Borg Olivier and Labour communications coordinator Kurt Farrugia.
Additional reporting by Miriam Dalli
The Labour Party has withdrawn the participation of deputy leader Anglu Farrugia in a debate scheduled for tonight's live edition of Xarabank on PBS, to allow Nationalist MP Franco Debono to demand that he is given airtime on the programme.
Franco Debono appeared at the Where's Everybody studios in Qormi, demanding that he is given the airtime on the public broadcasting station. The show has now been cancelled.
Police officers arrived on the scene where Debono was audibly making his point at the TV studios, while Simon Busuttil stayed in the green room with the rest of the PN entourage.
PBS said the debate between the two deputy leaders had been long scheduled and was already cancelled last week due to personal reasons on the part of the Labour MP. When asked why Franco Debono and Simon Busuttil were not allowed to debate so that the show goes on, PBS chief executive Anton Attard insisted that tonight's edition was strictly scheduled to feature Anglu Farrugia and Simon Busuttil. "This was not a programme for candidates where Labour could just send in some replacement. This was a debate between the two party deputy leaders."
In comments to the press after emerging from the green room, Busuttil said that Labour had "given certification that it is a cowardly party of gimmicks. It is unfortunate that this programme had to be cancelled for this reason. I am here, and I am waiting, and I am ready to debate the deputy leader. If this is the government that Joseph Muscat is promising, then we have much to be concerned about."
Busuttil was asked by a One News journalist why he had not debated Debono, but the deputy leader responded to the repeated questioning by saying: "You need a lesson in manners."
Muscat's PL shows its true colours. Coward party built on gimmicks and dishonesty. — Simon Busuttil (@SimonBusuttil) December 14, 2012
In a reaction, Franco Debono told MaltaToday: "It's the PN that are cowards. I have been waiting for ages to get some airtime on PBS to make my point, because I am never invited on PBS. If I am so irrelevant, why are they so scared of facing me?"
At 11:09pm, he told One TV: "I am telling the people to do the opposite of what Simon Busuttil. Go to your grocer and spread a message of unity... it's shameful that Simon Busuttil did not face me."
Debono was also heard complaining in the Where's Everybody saying that Xarabank presenter Joe Azzopardi had acted as a mediator between him and the Prime Minister, although he did not indicate when such a meeting had taken place.
@simonbusuttil coward is he who is afraid to act outside his comfort zone. You locked yourself in a room, afraid to face Franco Debono. — James Piscopo (@PiscopoJames) December 14, 2012
In comments on PBS later on in the evening, Xarabank presenter Joe Azzopardi said the programme had been scheduled weeks ago after discussions had took place with the parties' respective communications coordinators. "If this had been a debate between the party leaders, nobody could have taken the place of any one of the leaders. So there was no way that somebody else could replace the Labour deputy leader."
Azzopardi also said that numerous SMSes to Labour communications coordinator Kurt Farrugia had been ignored this week. "I smelt this coming over the past week, because Farrugia was not responding to the SMSes. Phone calls to Anglu Farrugia were ignored. And it was on Thursday evening that I finally got a confirmation that Farrugia would be attending."
"Had Anglu Farrugia come to Xarabank and instead of Simon Busuttil he found Labour MP Adrian Vassallo to rubbish Labour as some party of communists, you can imagine the kind of outrage there would be at a tactic like this."
A PL spokesperson denied that it had sent Franco Debono to represent the party. "We are simply making way for Debono. Now it is clear that Simon Busuttil does not want to take on Debono."
The party has now issued a statement, saying it had invited Busuttil to debate with Anglu Farrugia on the party's TV station's Bla Agenda talk-show for tomorrow, Saturday evening.
Labour also said Anglu Farrugia has accepted an invitation for a debate with Simon Busuttil, that would be broadcast on both PBS and One TV, with a presenter that is chosen by both sides. "Labour also expects that in the coming days, PBS hosts a debate between Busuttil and Debono, after the deputy leader avoided this debate."
PBS has refused to change presenter Joe Azzopardi.
Labour also said it had asked for a right of reply on PBS, through the Broadcasting Authority.
In the meantime, Simon Busuttil is invited to debate Anglu Farrugia on Bla Agenda...earliest opportunity available...is he in? — James Piscopo (@PiscopoJames) December 14, 2012
The matter is now the subject of special editions on the party stations: the PL's communications coordinator Kurt Farrugia said Simon Busuttil has refused to appear with Farrugia on the PBS talk-show TVAM and Realtà. "What should be discussed is PBS's unwillingness to allow Debono to air his views on state TV. He has already described PBS as a 'Nationalist party każin'. Farrugia on his part has already featured in a debate with Busuttil on on church radio RTK. PBS are part of a cover-up to deny Debono airtime."
In a statement, the Nationalist Party said that Labour had "hidden Anglu Farrugia because it fears pitting him in a debate with Simon Busuttil. This is the third time that labour has not sent its deputy leaders in a debate with Simon Busuttil. Labour is bereft of any arguments or policies. Muscat is using other people instead, and today he has come out as a coward."
PN secretary-general said later on NET TV that this decision was single-handedly authored by Labour leader Joseph Muscat. "This gimmick has all the hallmarks of a 'media man' like Joseph Muscat. Labour lost an opportunity to present its ideas to the public."
The unprecedented decision took place within the last hours, with the PL announcing that it had received a request from Debono to participate in the debate that originally pitted Farrugia with PN deputy leader Simon Busuttil.
"After evaluating this demand, in the light that the MP was not given the possibility to express himself, Labour accepted this demand for Debono to represent himself and be given the chance denied to him to explain why he voted against the budget this week," the PL said in a statement.
The long-awaited debate between Busuttil and Farrugia on Xarabank was arguably an opportunity for the PN to deploy its new political 'weapon' against Labour's deputy leader on the stage of the popular Friday night talk show, which has one of the highest ratings on Maltese television.
But in more ways than one, the snap decision is redolent of the PN's tactic in 2008 to send its MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando with a fast-tracked press card to the PBS studios, to participate in a Broadcasting Authority political debate against Labour leader Alfred Sant.
Pullicino Orlando had demanded that Sant faces him after not having been given the chance to face him, over the Labour leader's accusations against the MP on a controversial planning permit. Sant walked out of the PBS studios, fatally affecting the perception that Pullicino Orlando was not as guilty as Labour portrayed him.
Il-Labour jibgħatu lil Franco Debono biex jiddibatti ma' Simon Busuttil. Ma sabu 'l ħadd minn fosthom b'kuraġġ li... fb.me/DjOicbL5 — Emanuel Delia (@Deliapn) December 14, 2012
Anglu Farrugia debated Simon Busuttil for two hours on RTK yesterday. SB refused two other invitations to debate AF this week. — Kurt Farrugia (@KurtFarrugia) December 14, 2012
PBS+XARABANK+SIMON BUSUTTIL afraid? — James Piscopo (@PiscopoJames) December 14, 2012
Is it just me thinking that labour are afraid to discuss policy with us. — Karl Gouder (@kgouder) December 14, 2012