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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 DECEMBER 2024
NEWS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
The Prime Minister sounded
the warning during a meeting
held last Thursday in the af-
termath of Clayton Bartolo's
resignation from Cabinet and
the PL parliamentary group.
"If anyone of you wants to
spite me and lose the election
so that afterwards you blame
me for it, tell me so that I can
step down because I do not
want to see the Labour Par-
ty back in opposition," Abela
told Labour MPs during the
meeting.
Abela's warning was leaked
to Nationalist Party MP Alex
Borg, who posted the direct
quote on his Facebook wall
shortly after the meeting.
MaltaToday has inde-
pendently confirmed that
those words were spoken by
the Prime Minister in what
was described as an "intense"
meeting of the parliamentary
group.
This newspaper has asked the
Prime Minister why he felt the
need to make such a statement
but questions sent to his office
remained unanswered by the
time of writing.
Several members of the par-
liamentary group who were
granted anonymity to be able
to speak about confidential
matters told MaltaToday Abe-
la's words reflected the grow-
ing unease among MPs with
the Prime Minister's leader-
ship style.
"You cannot have a Prime
Minister who is unable to take
tough decisions or is constant-
ly changing his mind," an MP
said, adding that the Clayton
Bartolo affair should have been
dealt with decisively when the
Standards Commissioner's re-
port was published.
'I do not want to see the Labour
The Clayton Bartolo affair overshadowed a good budget as jilted MPs rue what they describe as the Prime Minister's
indecisiveness
