Who is giving orders in the Labour spin machine?

No sooner has the party emerged, somewhat battered, after the recent Michael Falzon outburst, than it has proceeded to make an even bigger ass of itself in the current spin as regards minister Censu Galea and some rather frank comments he unsuspectingly made on tape.

In the short term all is fun and games: here is a minister who admits there is such a mess in a department then under his care he cannot do much about it.

So for the past weeks or so we have been hearing about Censu Galea, he has been waylaid from morning till night to try and see if he confirms what the tape already says he said. The prime minister was also, naturally, brought into it with the same gentle courtesy that is the hallmark of One News anytime they have a spin to do.

Then on Friday, lo and behold! The tape surfaced.

The thing is: does the Labour leadership really believe that people cannot be identified through their voices? Of course they can.

There is a court case involved, so one has to be careful here, but what if the tape and more identify the source of the spin as a person who was then facing charges and who, inter alia, was defended by a Labour MP and even today is still under disciplinary action?

What does Labour gain by associating with this kind of person?

Let us be very, very generous, and give the full benefit of doubt to this person. Let us assume he was treated shabbily and insists that justice be done. He has many many means to obtain redress and if he still feels he was not treated with justice, there are enough lawyers and enough courts to ensure he finally gets his justice.

But what if the story unfolds, as unfold it must, and the charges against the man are made public and the whole country gets to see whether the disciplinary procedures instigated against him are based on fact or on fiction?

Does Labour believe that by associating itself with whoever feels he was treated shabbily it is not building up a tsunami of people out for revenge who will use a Labour victory to wreak vengeance on those who they feel treated them badly? Is that what we will get on the morrow of a Labour victory at the polls – thieves beating up the police who arrested them, government department messengers executing summary justice on the heads who disciplined them, etc etc?

And by letting itself be used by the man in what may look like an act of personal vendetta, is not the party’s media machine getting involved and then some in this and by extension in so many private wars of vendetta?

Would it not be more honourable for political parties (because this tactic was also used by the Nationalist Party when in Opposition, and look where it got us) to break away from all those who shirk work, all those who disappear when they are supposed to be working, all those who do far worse, rather than associate with them and promote their personal vendettas?

This should not be construed as a defence of Censu Galea, either in the way he handled himself in the taped excerpts or in the way he handles his ministerial responsibilities. It is just asking: what does Labour gain by going in overdrive in this way? Is there nobody to foresee what may happen some days or weeks down the line when the short term gain evaporates and the long term damage starts to kick in?