When a politician is loved and admired, it is often difficult for his supporters to admit that he is wrong and that he has slipped from his pedestal. What we are witnessing at the moment, in fact, is Lawrence Gonzi teetering on the edge of his throne. For a change, it’s not the Opposition which is causing him to wobble, nor is it his backbenchers. It is those who voted for him blindly and who held him up as some kind of ideal who are now wondering out loud whether they have completely misjudged the man.

It is the kind of questioning which makes many people nervous – they prefer certainty and adherence to loyalty, even if the facts are clearly indicating otherwise.

This is the danger that is inherent in our political culture, which encourages the electorate to look upon ‘the leader’ as some kind of demigod. This cult of personality is what turned Mintoff into what he eventually became – a man who was so convinced of his own infallibility that he would not allow any contradictions. He continued to govern by simply surrounding himself with Yes Men. What was worse was that when the hoi polloi in their simplicity began to refer to him in terms of ‘their saviour’, not only was he not embarrassed but (more alarmingly) he also seemed to enjoy it.

Gonzi, of course, is no Mintoff (for one thing, he doesn’t have the same narcissistic traits), but the Prime Minister is falling into a similar trap. For many years now, the Prime Minister has enjoyed considerable popularity, riding high on waves of adulation with the friendly media touting the “he can do no wrong” mantra. No matter what decision was made, Gonzi was right, he was spot on, he had the pulse of the nation – or so we have been repeatedly told. Now that he is on the slippery slope which is the Libyan crisis however, this chant has died down.

Funnily enough, we are no longer hearing the spiel that ‘thank God Gonzi is leading the country’ because the ‘other lot’ simply don’t have a clue. Now, for the first time, I am hearing the sound of Nationalist voters dumping both parties into one big cardboard box marked ‘hopeless’ and hands are duly being dusted off for good measure.

Gonzi’s biggest mistakes on the Libya issue have been due to the fact that he has not managed to convince the country that the often-debatable decisions he has taken are, in fact, the right ones. His body language, every time he speaks to the press, is that of a man defeated, and because the personality of the leader is so linked to the image of the political party, the Nationalist Party too, has started to look defeated. Yes, the party, which used to pride itself on image and PR, has deflated like a worn out balloon. The once formidable party which could take an innocuous statement by Alfred Sant, spin it round, turn it on its head and make Sant look ridiculous, has lost its oomph.

This can only be bad news for voters who have always believed the PN could do no wrong. It is very difficult to gloat and brag that you support a party that is ‘superior’ in every way, when the politicians you voted for are letting you down, very badly.

What is even more ironic is that this has all come to light precisely because Labour under Joseph Muscat has not fought Gonzi at all over the way he has handled Libya (on the contrary, he has given the Prime Minister his full support). The implications of this are clear: does the Nationalist Party only look good in the eyes of the electorate when it is in the middle of a full-on dogfight with the Labour Party?

Look at how the 2,800 ‘lost youth votes’ have galvanised the PN machinery into action, dredging up the past with the infamous Sant quote of bażwar ftit ‘l hawn u bażwar ftit ‘l hemm (loose translation: you just mess around with things here and there). The swiftness with which the party has replied to Muscat’s suggestion to delay the publication of the Presidential writ in order to allow 18-year-olds to vote, was impressive. Officials were immediately galvanised into action by the whiff of another possible scrape with Labour. Preferably a scrape in which the PN could fall back on its tried and tested method of bringing up Labour’s past incompetence: hence the resurrection of that quote by Sant.

In comparison, the Nationalist government’s PR strategy on Malta’s stand vis-à-vis the Libya issue; a strategy that is badly needed on the international stage, has been abysmal at best. In fact, many have even compared the entire mishandling of the Libyan crisis as (gasp) comparable to something a Labour government would have done.

Now that is really bad news for Gonzi and Co. You know things are bad when you are being compared to your arch nemesis.

What I’m wondering is: what comes next? Now that a Nationalist Party in government has proved that its only real strengths lie in bickering aimlessly and endlessly with Labour on petty technicalities (preferably by bringing up anything which happened in the last 30 years), how will it manage to haul itself up back on that pedestal in time for the adoration to recommence just in time for the general election?

More significantly, how will it convince voters that it really is the best option to steer Malta in a time of crisis, when it was given a chance to prove itself over the past few months but has failed to impress?

The inevitable answer to this is, of course, another question: would Labour have done any better?

I honestly don’t know. That’s the thing about political parties – you have to actually vote them into government to find out whether their performance in the face of grim reality matches all the hype.

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