Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1505544
12 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 AUGUST 2023 Labour United: Is the team PRIME Minister Robert Abela coached his team to a convinc- ing victory in the 2022 'cham- pionships and remains undis- puted manager of the club. But some of his strategic choices of late have left sup- porters and club officials jittery as they question the coach's ability to continue the club's 14-year-long winning streak. In short, the coach is not in dispute, but his tactics are, and much will hinge on how the team will perform in the Euro- pean and local tests in 2024. This football analogy is drawn from feedback obtained from party insiders, who chose to remain anonymous to be able to speak freely. The unease may subside if coach Abela makes a strong and scripted comeback after the summer lull with targeted government action to address disgruntled pockets and pro- vide reprieve to a struggling middle class. Abela may yet set the tone for the mid-term elections season next year to seal his reputation as a winner. But Abela, who performs best when in control of events, may yet be served a curve ball by situations whose timing is beyond his control. One such event is the possible arraign- ment of his predecessor Joseph Muscat once the magistrate conducting an inquiry into the hospitals deal concludes her work. Abela is facing team trouble and it is only natural that this is hyped up by an Opposition that has recently rediscovered a sense of unity after years of bitter infighting. After all, the perception of the PN as a fractured party played a significant role in its inability to make headway de- spite Labour's scandals. For the past weeks the PN media has been fueling spec- ulation on factional fighting within Labour and Bernard Grech recently described Rob- ert Abela as an ineffective lead- er who has "given up on gov- erning". One expects the Opposition to raise the stakes by exagger- ating divisions on the other side but giving more credence to the the notion that trouble is brewing within the Labour Party are statements from vet- eran party members like Evar- ist Bartolo. The former education minis- ter cryptically wrote on Face- book about "a half-hearted captain" whose crew is "losing trust in him" even if there is "no enthusiasm from anyone to take his role." Speculation was also unin- tentionally fed by former party deputy leader Joe Brincat who advised Abela to seek a vote of confidence by party members to put an end to whispers of internal turmoil and invigorate the grassroots as Mintoff had done in 1957. However, Brincat overlooked the mere fact that the last lead- er to resort to an internal vote of confidence was Lawrance Gonzi in June 2012 as he faced rebellion in parliament that threatened his fragile one-seat majority. Exaggerated rumours? But how true are the rumours of internal discord within La- bour's upper echelons? Cer- tainly, Abela does not face any threat to his safe nine-seat majority in parliament and the prospect of any imminent leadership challenge is beyond remote. Party insiders point out that any indication of a specific minister vying for succession would likely suppress those ambitions. No one would be willing to declare interest in becoming the leader at this stage, as such aspirations could be interpreted as disloyalty to the current leader. Recalling that it took Labour a full decade to recover from the epochal clash between Dom Mintoff and Alfred Sant, party insiders acknowledge the traumatic experience as a les- son that bolsters unity in La- bour. Similarly, history teaches us that the PN's downfall af- ter 2013 stemmed from the turmoil which characterised Gonzi's unstable one-seat ma- jority after 2008. The problem for Labour at this juncture is the erosion of the 'team spirit' that charac- terised the party over the past decade. This erosion has been accel- erated by concerns over Abe- la's abrupt U-turns on amend- ments to the abortion law and the Sofia inquiry, leaving sup- porters and activists baffled and disoriented. Some MPs even expressed their misgivings on Robert Ab- ela's handling of both issues in anonymous comments report- ed in both MaltaToday and the Times of Malta. This climate contrasts with the way Labour rallied behind Joseph Muscat even in his de- fence of controversial figures like Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri despite obvious signs that something was amiss. Although this sense of unity played a key role in the party's landslide victory in 2017, it also hindered the early resolution of problems, which are now causing a serious headache for Abela. In this sense internal Over the past decade, the Labour Party has showcased its internal cohesion, contrasting it with the constant state of confusion on the PN side. JAMES DEBONO asks whether the table has turned and whether coach Robert Abela has the umph to straighten out things before next year's mid-term elections.