Debono, the soon-to-be "who was that guy, Frankie something?", must be having a right old snigger at the way he led his old class-room buddy (well, not buddy exactly) right up the garden path in a merry dance, only to whip the carpet out from under his dainty feet, leaving him standing in the corner like the ugly girl at the prom.

I'm told, though I don't have it first hand, that Joseph Muscat was pretty livid about the way things panned out.

If this is the case, it piles lack of foresight and political nous on top of the tactical naiveté that he's already showed by firing off his ill-fated confidence motion as soon as he (indecently) could.

The signs were all there that Debono would not be giving Muscat the satisfaction of bringing down the Government, though to be fair, as one should always be with underdogs (yeah, the MLP are underdogs, sure they are) so unpredictable are people like Debono that his supporters can't blame Muscat for misreading the situation so totally.

I'm also told that the MLP's cohorts were ready for a pretty good celebration, with fireworks and bunting at the ready.

The disappointment was palpable outside the Palace, to be sure, and it was expressed in the time-honoured fashion (check out the news reels if you want to) and on Facebook. Dogged attempts were made to keep up the spirits by references to the Speaker's vote (shows how much I know, I thought he didn't actually need to vote to confirm that the Opposition's motion had not achieved a majority) and to similar Mandelsonian spins, but the fact remains that Muscat had himself an epic fail just after high noon on Thursday, 26 January 2012.

He'll have to keep his champers on ice for a few more months, poor lad.