Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus called Cunctator (the Delayer), a Roman politician and soldier, was born in Rome around 275 BC and died there in 203 BC. He was Consul five times and dictator twice.

His epithet Cunctator means “delayer” in Latin, and refers to his tactics in deploying the troops during the Second Punic War by means of which he circumscribed and led to Hannibal’s defeat.

At first, the epithet was an expression of scorn. He knew the Carthaginians were superior but the Romans could not understand the value of the very un-Roman way of refusing to engage in straight fights. Later on, the wisdom of his strategy was understood and Cunctator became a term of honour. As Ennius, and later, Virgil said: “unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem –one man, by delaying, restored the state to us”.

Who knows, maybe in time it will be Lawrence Gonzi’s turn to be so honoured. For, most likely, by delaying to hold an election before Christmas, he has avoided his party being mangled at the polls and he could have won another chance for it to fight better next year.

But he must now draw some very raw conclusions and he must use the time he has won to act. Not to promise, nor to dither. He must now carry out surgery, quick, deep and drastic.

The events of the past weeks must have shown him that even when it pulls out all the stops, his party has become unpopular with the majority of the electorate. It is, quite simply, fatigued – both media and public – by the same faces, the same quirks, the same mistakes, the same accents. The public is fed up of the people around him.

But, as poll after poll shows, the public is still not fed up of Lawrence Gonzi, at least as far as comparisons with his counterpart go. He is still considered as honest, as working hard for his country and as well meaning. And his policies are considered by many to be the right policies for the country.

At the same time, even with policies and all, it has become extremely clear the country is, or was, very near to choosing Labour, despite all the questions and issues regarding its electoral promises, all the issues and questions regarding its leadership and all the issues surrounding the possibility of a complete turnaround in the top people of this small country.

After all, it is very much in synch with Malta’s political history that alternation at the top happens around every two legislatures. It is now Labour’s turn. But then it was Labour’s turn in 1996 and look what happened in 1998. It could not have been Labour’s turn in 2003, not after the EU referendum, but by this same logic, it has to be Labour’s turn now.

So if Lawrence Gonzi is not to become known as Lawrence the Ditherer but as Lawrence Cunctator in the historic sense of the term, he must now use this added time to dig deep and to dig now.

It is now clear that one of his major mistakes was not to have had a Cabinet reshuffle when he took office and maybe he feels he cannot afford to do it now. But it is increasingly clear that he is surrounded by people that the country, rightly or wrongly, loathes both collectively and singly. He tried to send some signals that he would choose differently if re-elected, but then he perforce had to defend his ministers, even those who made glaring mistakes or own-goals and he has been left holding the baby innumerable times. This is the time when he has to take a stand and cut the rot. Nothing short of that will send the right signals to the country.

But this is to take the Labour spin – that this lot is over the top, past it. Dr Gonzi has, is being, continually ill-advised by those around him. He has consistently failed to address the real issues of the country and the poor showing of a Budget conceived to address the issues, which failed so signally, should send everyone back to the drawing board.

Take the much-maligned, at the time, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici. Even he delayed the 1987 election till the very last day. And then he only lost by some 3,000 votes after 16 years in power, mostly ghastly years with so many allegations of corruption and worse, after political violence and mayhem that still rankle. Because, for all his naivety, KMB addressed the real issues then, which were the real issues of bread and butter, jobs mainly, security. Even though he did it by the unacceptable expedient of engaging people by the hundreds at Malta Shipbuilding.

This time round, Dr Gonzi faces a country that is wide open to international markets, and ECB rules impede him from increasing the deficit (we will all have fun seeing Dr Sant squirm under that) so not that many routes are open for him. But he must address the real issues – that is the main point.

And, as this newspaper never tires of saying: it is better to go down fighting the right fight then winning for the wrong reason. The Budget was the wrong sop to throw at the electorate: let the government go back to its roots and reflect on the reasons for its existence.