From The Times:
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had a meeting with Franco Debono this evening, two days after the Nationalist MP missed two votes in parliament, denying the government its majority. Dr Debono also did not attend a meeting of the PN parliamentary group on Tuesday, and could not be contacted. Party whip David Agius late on Tuesday denied claims that pressure was being put on Dr Debono to resign.
Dr Debono attended the first part of Monday’s parliamentary sitting, but was absent during two votes on amendments to a motion on the setting up of a Select Committee. The Speaker had to use his casting vote. Dr Debono later returned to the Chamber and voted with the government. The motion was approved.
This evening’s meeting was held at Dr Debono’s residence in Ghaxaq. Mrs Gonzi also attended.
Since Franco Debono was probably “asleep” at his house during a routine vote* one should therefore imagine that the PM’s courtesy visit at the Ghaxaq Residence (probably during waking hours – you know what they say about letting sleeping dogs lie) was simply to discuss a possible variation in his sleeping habits. We’d hate to imagine Franco sleeping through the whole of this legislature…
* from Running Commentary:
Franco Debono becoming ‘another’ pain in the ass?
[Daphne – No, it’s not. There was a routine vote, MPs on both sides of the house were away from Malta, and it was a ‘draw’. Franco Debono failed to turn up because he was asleep and had to be woken by people who turned up at his house for the purpose. The rest is just wishful thinking and the sort of ‘rumour as fact’ reporting we have come to expect from Maltastar. The Labour party even sent out a viral SMS yesterday, claiming that the prime minister was to call for a vote of confidence at 3pm. Yes, right.]
17 replies on “PM discusses sleeping habits with Debono”
These smear campaigns are becoming soo predictable, time to revise the SOP in the PN’s Ministry of Defence.
feckin boring!
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20091217/local/franco-debono-has-risked-his-political-career
David Agius called the people at Maltastar “liars” for saying Franco was asleep….It turns out that the Maltastar people weren’t the ones who came up with the @sleeping@ rumour. So who’s the liar?
Hmmm. Let sleeping dogs lie?
(apologies for the sad pun)
@Jacques…..the “sleeping” rumour was funny though….as if Franco would pull on his Pjs by nine o’clock and go to bed with a good book while the Cavalry from Castille banged on the door to wake him up. Ho Ho Ho.
What if instead of being asleep he was home playing FIFA 10? Of course, that would mean that DCG was wrong (much to your joy, of course) but if there’s someone who needs to come up with a plausible explanation it’s Debono.
I’m bemused to see MB here mentioning “smear campaigns” like an MP who does not turn up for a vote because he was (a) taking a nap or (b) because he was sulking on the hypothetical cabinet appointment of a hypothetical rival MP has not done much of the smearing himself.
@ Fausto. Whatever floats your boat. Maybe he was playing FIFA 10 wearing a woolly hat to muffle the sound of the banging on the door and the trilling of his mobile phone…..it sounds more plausible than him nodding off at 8. If it makes you happy, we’ll go with that…just make sure that everybody’s singing from the same hymn book.
No, Claire. It’s not my boat that needs floating nor the Nationalist Party’s. It’s Debono’s.
So why on earth was he playing FIFA 10 and wearing a woolly hat while a vote was on in the House? What’s your take?
Fausto, we’ve got to be very careful about floating these theories – implausible as they may seem – because the next thing we know they’ll be taken up by David Agius and trumpeted as the “official” (and justified) reason for Debono’s absence….
One thing I’ve noted about the whole affair is that Debono, Joe Borg, Psaila Savona, Michael bonnici etc are described as “sulking” or “foot-stamping” whereas nobody described Dom Mintoff in the same terms, when he was engaging in pretty much the same behaviour in 1998….Why do you think that’s so?
That may be but still: what’s your take?
As to Mintoff just anyone I knew thought he was sulking. The whole matter was whether he felt grieved enough to run the full hundred yards. About what nobody cared (it was something to do with Cottonera, no?).
Fausto:
My comment was more about the pattern of events which i find very predictable (and below the belt) tactics.
re Smearing:
The speculation about chances of being elected, damaging one’s career etc.. by people from the same party, the day after a person flipped, for whatever reason (especially since it is not given but speculated) is unfair.
Certainly not a diplomatic move and certainly not contributing to “unity by inclusion”.
Yeah, right. The person who’s suffering unfairness is Debono not the voter who elected him and who’d expect him to be in the House unless he has very valid personal reasons to take a vote on a motion which — no less — would have appointed him (Debono) chair of a parliamentary committee.
As to the specualtions, what’s keeping Debono from quashing them with a statement?
The voter is suffering and i never said that one should pity FD. The voter is further suffering because the party in goverment is slowly loosing its assets. Soon it will be the party of Gonzi clones. (we already can see a few of them around)
May times the most outspoken people are also the ones with the cahones, just need to know how to use them rather then lose them.
A leader’s role is also that of unifying the team. This doesn’t mean that everyone gets what he wants, but it is evident that the way GPN is handling the disgruntled people is not exactly making any good to anything but MLP… or is it ?
Re: No statement from Debono, you must remember he is still PN, its a lose-lose situation for him. And what does PN do in these situations? … exactly what he is doing!
By the way, check out the fascist strategy at play again. Anyone who doesn’t toe the GonziPN line invariably suffers from a “personality disorder”. Sant, Muscat, Harry Vassallo, Salvu Balzan, now Franco Debono…Delightful stuff.
@Camillo – not to mention suddenly developing a distate for “lawyers, architects and doctors”. No doubt Malta is in dire need of archaeologists, dj’s and marketing analysts to get us out of this mess.
Play the man – not the ball. Sounds like Sam Allardyce before facing Arsenal but its standard PN spin.(although we might need ot clarify which faction of PN we are talking about)
The Times: “”I needed to see his family, I needed to see him. I went to see two other people yesterday. I wanted to see him for personal reasons,” Dr Gonzi said when asked why he went to Dr Debono’s home with his wife Kate on Wednesday evening.
that clarifies it all! and me thinking it was all about preparing the mulled whine.
Mhm … Lets guess who else is on GPNs secret santa list….
@ Camillo – The only one who did not toe the Gonzipn line and did not get accused of having a personality disorder was JPO. In that case we were reminded that (a) an MP is only answerable to his constituents, and (b) if you don’t like it, you just have to “grit your teeth” and put up with it till the next election, and (c) the PN was not being wise in giving him a bad time as he held that all important one seat in parliament.
As for accusations of people having personality disorders…..well, it’s a bit rich coming from certain quarters….but “kulhadd milli jkollu jtik etc”
@ Fausto – My take on the matter? (Coming a bit late as I fell asleep….like F)One of the main points of difference between the PN and the PL (till now at least) was that the PN was always a tight outfit with no-one breaking rank….now that is changing. That might be attributable to a number of factors but Gonzi’s leadership style (or lack of it) definitely has something to do with it. This week’s incidents will not bring down the PN government…..that’s Labour’s wishful thinking, but it does expose fault lines within the PN.