Following Chris Fearne’s downfall and indictment in court over the Vitals and Steward deals, The Labour Party will be electing a Deputy Leader who will become a Deputy-Prime Minister, and a Deputy-Leader for Party Affairs next September.
The position of Deputy Prime Minister, which by default includes the role of deputy leader for parliamentary affairs, is set to be clinched by the Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg, given that he is the most senior minister and also retains a good reputation abroad. Having built good relationships with our allies and partners as Foreign Minister, Ian Borg can serve as the adult face of a Labour government abroad, while its Leader back home protects his criminal friends and tears to shreds Malta’s foreign policy. Other cabinet members don’t see a better alternative.
Ian Borg has laid low during Robert Abela’s administration hoping to avoid associating with Robert Abela’s hubris. His position as Minister of Foreign Affairs enabled him to avoid local controversies easily simply by not being present. After the Labour government gave a consistent projection of incompetence to its electorate, Ian Borg’s subtle discretion is automatically making him look like an outsider: something the Labour Parliamentary group desperately needs right now.
He’s also well-supported by the Labour grassroots having one of the biggest support base in the Labour Party among the other cabinet ministers. Contesting him would not be an easy task.
However, Ian Borg’s discretionary honeymoon will now be over. If he is to take on the role of the Deputy-Premiership he will no longer be a dissociate: he’ll be second-in-command. In practice, this may mean nothing due to the absolutist way that Robert Abela runs the country, however, he will now be officially and fully endorsing Robert Abela’s rule and politics. He will be in a different situation from Chris Fearne. Chris Fearne was Deputy-Leader because he represented a significant group of Labourites who did not vote for Robert Abela as Party leader. Robert Abela went on to destroy this faction and weaken Chris Fearne in the process.
Ian Borg will be coming out of the shadows to clinch the deputy premiership as an endorsement of Robert Abela, not as a representative of the second-largest Labour Party faction, which is now admittedly in a bit of disarray.
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