Our sister newspaper The Malta Independent on Sunday published a story in the last issue, revealing that Opposition leader Simon Busuttil was receiving coaching on public speaking, delivery and body language.

There is no shame in this. The Prime Minister was coached right up to the last general election and beyond. On Sunday, the results were there for all to see, if they watched at least parts of Dr Busuttil’s speech.

His entrance to the arena during the PN’s convention was good. The decision to deliver his speech in rolled up shirt sleeves and a slightly loosened tie paid dividends straight away. Gone is the schoolboy-caught-in-the-headlights look, to be replaced by an I mean business, but I am not authoritarian look.

Dr Busuttil’s delivery had improved over time anyway, but it was still lacking. If he can build on the performance which he gave t the PN’s Convention on Sunday, then it will serve him in good stead to inspire people to switch their vote to the Nationalist Party when the time do so arrives. The PN is still lagging way behind. It was trounced at the last election and began with a 36,000 deficit and it did not really make up much ground in the European Parliament elections last year.

So, what does Dr Busuttil and the PN need to do? Aside from building his profile as a speaker and as a leader, the PN also needs to be seen to be holding those accountable for any abuse that might have taken place in the last legislature.

In fact, on Sunday, Dr Busuttil said that the PN will shoulder the blame if former minister George Pullicino is found to have been actively participating in corruption in the photovoltaic case that has been levelled against him by the PL government.

This, of course, also serves Dr Busuttil well. There is no doubt that surveys show that many PN voters who switched to PL in the last election simply want nothing to do with a whole raft of people who were in Cabinet during the last election. While it is understood that the PN simply cannot just sever ties and move on, it must be seem to be moving and shaking and putting those unpopular figures aside.

 

The PN is riding its highest wave since its drubbing at the polls, in terms of demanding information about the stalled gas-fired power plant. Up till then, many had doubted Dr Busuttil’s ability to rein in dissent, stifle the hangover voices which were still not accepting the fact that the PN was not in government, and forge ahead to build a solid opposition which is so sorely needed in this environment of such a massive government majority in parliament. While public speaking improvements were badly needed, the PN and Simon Busuttil need more, much more, if they are to begin reversing the massive bleeding of support which the party has witnessed since the 2008 election which was won by the slimmest of margins.