Opinion: Don’t come back

It’s now open warfare in Robert Abela’s labour party. Former secretary general and Labour TV ONE chairman Jason Micallef announced he would run for Deputy Leader for party affairs. He declared Labour “needs a revolution”.

Robert Abela wasn’t amused, and he made it clear. But this is just a proxy war. The real conflict isn’t between Micallef and Abela; it’s between former prime minister Joseph Muscat and current Prime Minister Robert Abela.  This is a battle to the death for control.

One wants control back. The other isn’t letting go. For both, it’s an existential struggle.

Malta’s Labour Party is notorious for containing even the most vicious internal disputes. No bitter feuds between senior cabinet ministers have ever been made public.

Former ministers Chris Fearne and Konrad Mizzi hated each others’ guts, but in public, they were best buddies.  Fearne even voted to protect Mizzi. He concealed from the public Mizzi’s devious deals to rob the nation of hundreds of millions of euro on the public hospitals deal.

Now, all caution, restraint, and secrecy are gone. Abela is in direct combat with his new enemy, Jason Micallef.

Abela is resorting to open, large-scale offensives and aggressive manoeuvres to wreck Micallef’s chances. He knows his own position is threatened.

His support is waning by the minute. As he stumbles from one catastrophe to another, everybody senses he’s the party’s most significant liability.  And he’s clinging on for dear life.

He can see Muscat’s faction taking up their positions with artillery aimed directly at him rather than the party’s eternal nemesis, the PN.

Micallef fired the first salvo.  Without consulting or informing Abela, he announced he was considering contesting the post of PL deputy leader for party affairs.

In a subtle dig at Abela’s dwindling poll figures, Micallef said on social media, “I was overwhelmed by the number of people, including party stalwarts who reached out asking me to help out”.

Micallef intentionally emphasised Abela’s fragility. The ailing leader needs help, and who better to provide it than the popular man of the people – Jason Micallef, backed by Joseph Muscat?

“I cannot simply ignore this call from party delegates, MPs, and ministers,” he added. Micallef’s message to Abela was clear: Even your own cabinet ministers are begging me to come and bail you out of the mess you’ve created.

He kept poking the bear.  He pointed out that Abela’s party lacked “coherence and energy”.  Micallef insisted the party needs “to bring back the ideas and energy it had in the early days in government”.  That couldn’t be clearer – he means Labour needs Joseph Muscat back.  He has the ideas and energy.  Abela doesn’t.

It’s not the first time Micallef has been scathing of Abela’s leadership.  He’s repeatedly attacked him publicly. In the most brutal dig at Abela, Micallef declared the party needed “a revolution” – a sort of “earthquake” like his idol Muscat once promised.

Except this time, Jason Micallef, directed and controlled by Muscat, will lead that revolution against the current leader.

Micallef told The Times of Malta that the last time the party renewed itself was in 2008, when Muscat became leader. That insignificant change in 2020, according to Micallef, was no renewal. It was just an unwelcome temporary blip he intends to rectify in the near future.

Micallef launched another missile at Abela. “The party lost touch with the electorate,” he said. Even the most loyal Labour supporter knows how detached Abela is.

Micallef’s comments will surely strike a chord with those Labour diehards suffering without power in the blistering heat while Abela sails away to Marina di Ragusa in the air-conditioned comfort of his luxury yacht.

Micallef has a point. Those images of Abela relaxing in Sicily while large swathes of the country sizzle without power won’t play well with those throwing out their spoilt food, those with massive temporary generators parked outside their windows noisily spewing diesel exhaust fumes into their bedrooms will be fuming.

The jilted Micallef has sworn revenge on Abela.  After leading several successful election campaigns for Labour,  Abela excluded Micallef.  Micallef is a blast from the past, according to Abela.  Nobody wants him, his time is up, according to the prime minister.

Micallef isn’t going to take that lying down.  He will make Abela pay for his insolent disrespect.

After Labour’s dismal European parliament campaign, Micallef informed the nation he’d been ostracised and prohibited from participating.  He attacked Abela for excluding those who worked relentlessly for the party, who were “systematically removed”.

He denounced the chaotic government projects that enraged people. He called Abela’s cabinet a bunch of  “banal… teenagers”. Most critically he attacked Abela’s failure to defend Joseph Muscat.

Micallef said Abela “left them alone,” referring to Muscat, Fearne, and Edward Scicluna. He mocked Abela for organising a massive Ta’Qali victory celebration before the first votes were even cast.

In another devastating blow to the leader, MEP Daniel Attard endorsed Micallef and his message – Micallef’s a great guy and Abela is crap.  Abela’s costing us votes.  We need to get rid of him, or at least drain him of his power by electing Jason Micallef as deputy leader.

Abela understands the real and imminent threat he faces with Micallef. Many dislike Micallef, but few doubt his genuine socialist spirit. Far fewer doubt his loyalty to the party.

Abela wasted no time getting his army to turn its guns on Micallef. They briefed MaltaToday to write against him: “Micallef’s bid will spell defeat for Labour.” Abela’s lieutenants told MaltaToday that “Micallef is not the right man for the job — if Micallef were elected, we’ve lost it (the next elections) already.”

Abela is determined to torpedo Micallef’s path to power.  He’s approaching possible candidates to challenge Micallef. He’s even considering changing the party statute to allow MPs to contest the post of deputy leader for party affairs to pit a strong opponent against Micallef.

Meanwhile, Joseph Muscat’s grip on Labour grows, and Robert Abela’s diminishes. What’s certain is that Labour’s phoney unity is irreversibly fractured.