If one gaffe for a new minister is unfortunate, and two starts to sound like coincidence, what literary description can be attached to three, four and counting? Probably none, but in political terms the situation can be described in no other terms than embarrassing.
Manuel Mallia got off to a good start in populist terms in his first few days in office, putting his knowledge as a criminal lawyer of repute to good use when he paid a surprise visit to the prison and found several warders were absent without leave.
His next visit to the prison was even more bombastic, but with a diametrically opposed result – as he took to a prison courtyard to announce a highly unnecessary 100-day amnesty for inmates to mark Labour’s historic election victory.
But if that was in bad taste, what came next was even worse as he shook hands and embraced several of those who have done harm to society. It was not the visit in itself that was wrong, but the making of such an announcement in such a forum and the backslapping where he seemed to put his knowledge as a criminal lawyer to the worst possible use as a politician.
Sadly, things have not got better since. He was stripped of the justice portfolio by the Prime Minister 100 days into Labour’s term, and in the past week, two new stories have emerged that do not cover the Government in glory.
The less serious – but only in a certain sense – is that police officers were used to provide food for a banquet that was completely unrelated to them: a bash at Girgenti for members of the European Broadcasting Union.
They did not just do the cooking, but members of the force served as waiters. There are conflicting reports over whether they were ordered to do so. But whatever the case, a young person well versed in social media is likely to observe such an event with a three capital letter exclamation.
The reaction of the rest of us is more restrained. Or is it? This was an insult to the police force and one the Police Commissioner should not have allowed.
The other revelation – though it took him some time to admit it – is that Dr Mallia, together with his head of secretariat Silvio Scerri, sat in on interviews for the recruitment of Security Service personnel.
It would be naive to the extreme to believe that former administrations have had no contact whatsoever with the Security Service, but it is more naive still to believe that when your boss sits in on the interviews he will have no say on who gets the job and who does not. If this very special branch wants a veneer of political independence, Dr Mallia defaced it with a kitchen knife.
Dr Mallia described it as “a new style of doing politics”. He could not be more wrong. It is the oldest possible style and one this country does not want to see again in its history.
As if all this is not bad enough, today we are running a story reporting that the minister’s head of secretariat was involved in an exchange with the head of security at the Isle of MTV concert because restrictions were being placed on how many ‘VIPs’ (a euphemism for ministerial friends) were allowed onto a reserved platform.
Police were called in, indicating yet more political contact in area that should be devoid of it.
This piles further embarrassment on this fledgling Government, which clearly has difficulty when it comes to sound judgement. The Prime Minister needs to deal with this mess – unless of course, he approves of it – and do so without delay before he is overwhelmed.