It’s not Mario de Marco only

A week or so after Simon Busuttil was elected as Leader of the Nationalist Party I wrote that “the better man lost” but said that Dr Busuttil being — in my opinion — less talented than Dr de Marco could only grow in office.

Since then, Dr Busuttil has grown and grown in stature and fibre. He is now solidly in the harness as the leader of his party. But that does not mean he will win next year’s election — far from it.

When I was invited to meet Dr de Marco at his home prior to the leadership election, I was quite stunned to be told that he had not been too sure to contest and that it was only because of the people around him that he gave it a try.

The son of the man who did not make it to the leadership of the party in 1976/7 is very different from his father. His father was a ‘hail fellow well met’ sort of man, who pumped hands and greeted everyone, including those who came from a different political belief. He was a ‘king of the forum’ par excellence and he retained these characteristics well into his political life, as a minister, as the President of the General Assembly of the UN, and as a President of the Republic.

His son, I feel, would have been happier to develop his legal office. But fate decided otherwise. After failing to become Leader of the Nationalist Party, he became Deputy Leader.

Then catastrophe ensued: he fell ill. Now I feel we have allowed ourselves to fall into the trap of a morbid game: that of comparing the illness of one person with that of another. This is quite unfair for no illness is the same as another and no person has exactly the same stamina as another. Mario de Marco has been in and out of hospitals for well over a year.

I also feel he has been unlucky in his political career. Given his talents, his background and his father’s steps before him, he would have been better suited as a Foreign Minister. Instead he became Tourism Minister with no extraordinary track record.

In Opposition he is the Spokesman on Finance. I have followed his speeches and his writings in this remit and I sometimes found him lacking in some comments he made, but then he would surprise me with a speech or article exhibiting a vast grasp of the subject.

Over and above all this, his position at the near top of a media empire has led to suspicions, doubts, and questions especially in a highly charged country as ours. The behaviour of that media empire in the months preceding the 2013 election came under the microscope and some even blamed the PN defeat on it. I disagree, in that I feel the defeat had multiple fathers.

Now that we have woken up to the fact that the next election is as near as next year and that Simon Busuttil’s PN is somewhat far away from a fighting chance of a victory, panic is setting in and there have been calls for Dr de Marco to shape up or leave.

Dr de Marco countered with a tearful interview on the Sunday Times and he made it a point to be present at various party functions last weekend. It is obvious that no one in his right senses would want a change in the party’s top structures right now, although it has been done by Labour.

If for no other reason, there are still people following the de Marco banner and have been ever since the time when Guido de Marco contested Eddie Fenech Adami in the 1976 leadership stakes when de Marco portrayed himself as having inherited the George Borg Olivier mantle. Many have died, but there remain a sizeable cohort.

My point, however, is that it is not just Mario de Marco who has illness problems, a retiring personality, maybe a conflict of interest or two within the ranks of the Nationalist Party. The Nationalist Party has always been a party of lawyers and lawyers these days come in offices, rather than as individuals. So it is not always easy to say which legal office is doing cashfor-citizenship work and which MP is involved in this.

Nor is it clear who of the old- timers will be calling it a day in a year’s time. Some do not seem ready to give up; some may have decided but have not made it public yet. Overall, the PN has a new breed of politicians who do not have Cabinet experience, but the leftovers from Gonzi’s Cabinet are collectively and, regardless of their personal merit, dragging the party down. Some may decide to give it a last try after which they will take their decisions but that may be harmful to the party as a whole.

What I find downright distasteful and treacherous is the whisper campaign that some people are actually preparing for defeat and for the new leadership stakes as a result of that defeat. No party should find itself in such a situation, especially when the election campaign has only just started.