In 2004, Lawrence Gonzi was crowned prime minister to replace his predecessor Eddie Fenech Adami. He inherited a party stronger by 13,000 votes than the Labour Party and with a forceful majority of five MPs in Parliament.

The Labour Party has delusively failed to overturn its electoral fortunes and this bears heavily on the party. It may sound futile to argue that it did better than in 2003 because the ultimate aim has not been forthcoming. But it is equally fair to draw out the positives from the losses.

Let the Nationalists babble confidently that what matters most is that they have been returned to government. True. But they fail to grasp the fact that despite their victorious fortunes, the electorate has done much of the dirty work for the opposition and that now the government is in a much weaker position than it was five years ago. Inversely the Labour Party has grown since 2003. The point of departure for the next election is now, not 2003.

In four years the Nationalist Party has significantly weakened in both electoral and parliamentary strength. There is now a wafer-thin majority of 700 votes between the two parties and a meagre one-seat majority for Lawrence Gonzi’s team in Parliament. In spite of the Labour Party’s mistakes, so starkly spelt out in the Commission’s analysis of the last defeat, it has grown significantly in both electoral and parliamentary stature. I’m sure the Nationalist Party doesn’t like what I’m saying. But deep down they know it.

With all our defects and shortcomings we have managed to write off 11,500 votes from the Nationalist Party’s electoral showcase and kicked out of Parliament four Nationalist deputies. In the process we have increased our tally on the backbenches by another four.

The current onslaught on the Labour party by the right-wing press may be blurring this fact of political life. But at Pietà they know that in lieu of a new spring, they now have storms looming on the horizon – especially whenever their ministers try to act bullish in the House of Representatives. A small gesture of arrogance from the government benches of the type the opposition was commonly served during the past legislature will, I suspect, be sufficient to rock the boat... for the government, of course.

So, dear ministers, you will have to start answering those irritating supplementary questions in Parliament, the ones you cannot dribble around by scribbling nonsense in reply to the written question. You see, the electorate has reduced your membership in the House, and increased the opposition’s, because it wants to make sure it gets no more arrogance from your benches. True, the electorate has given you another lifeline – but it is fast extinguishing.

And outside Parliament the economy isn’t exactly ticking, the deficit has shot up because of your pre-electoral clientele politics, the tax bands for the self-employed won’t be changing after all, the chickens will soon come home to roost when the promises do not materialise into fact, and Minister John Dalli and sore Louis Deguara are already hurling stones at each other. And with the surcharge set to rise!

Although the Labour Party must understand that it cannot be trusted with the government unless it reforms itself and refines its body language, on the other hand, the Nationalist Party must know that the electorate has given it just enough fuel to prove that it is not what it seemed to be during the last five years. So, in spite of all the din about the Labour Party, it is the government that will be under severe pressure.

It is true that at the moment the Labour Party looks very much like a building site with dust, bricks, plaster, screed and tools muddling up the place. But this is inevitable.

Constructing anew is a messy business as old edifices must be pulled down. The leadership triumvirate will change, new faces with new ideas will emerge and new impetus will be given to the party.

The good thing is that the new leadership will have enough grist for its mill to start off its political offensive – thanks to the inroads the party made at the polls.

It will be a new leadership with a far bigger chunk of the nation behind it than it had five years ago.

And it will be a new leadership that will show teeth behind the smiles at the House of Representatives – each and every time the Clerk of the House frantically counts those members of parliament present at voting time.

Congratulations to the new government whip.

Dr Gavin Gulia is the Opposition’s Main Spokesman on the Interior