Even putting it like this is not the right way to describe it, for it carries implications that simply were not there. But I cannot find any better way of describing it.

Over the past days (or rather weeks), I have learned from unimpeachable sources what led Tonio Fenech to try for the Deputy Leadership of the PN.

As soon as Tonio Borg was nominated for European Commissioner, Mr Fenech expressed an interest in succeeding him as the party’s deputy leader. But then so did other party heavyweights such as Mario de Marco and Chris Said. Mr Fenech hesitated and pulled back once, twice.

Then, at a Cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister made a searing speech about loyalty and toeing the party line.

That did it. Quick consultations were held, maybe there were some meetings as well, and maybe the meetings also included people no longer in Cabinet, and Mr Fenech announced he was a candidate.

I have no doubt they will all deny things happened like this, but I am sure of my sources: this is how it happened: Cabinet rose in rebellion.

This was one prime reason why almost all Cabinet supported and seconded Mr Fenech’s nomination, why both Dr de Marco and Dr Said stood down and why Mr Fenech felt that he could succeed.

The issue of course was that the Prime Minister had chosen Dr Busuttil as the deputy leader and the Cabinet decided to test this.

Now we know the result and we know that Tonio Fenech lost his bet and Dr Busuttil emerged as the great white hope for the party.

I said it a fortnight ago and I repeat it now: the contest was not a mock one; it was a real contest, but conducted in fairness and with friendliness. There were no shenanigans as seen in the French Right, nor in the Partito Democratico in Italy.

In the end, just before the vote, many believed the two candidates to be about equal in numbers (the same thing had happened in 2004 when John Dalli had sincerely believed he had the majority. PN councillors are notoriously slippery eels).

It was no beauty contest, no contest between two persons either of which could become a future leader. The contest went far deeper than that. And to understand it, one must go back to what caused the Cabinet rebellion in the first place.

There must be a reason why poll after poll, PN is very distanced by PL. Maybe it is the 'don’t knows' holding their horses. But simply put, maybe people are sick and tired of this government and all its prime exponents.

To those in Cabinet, Dr Gonzi’s skipping over all of them and going for the outsider must have meant the equivalent of what he did after the past election when he sacked almost his entire Cabinet. So when they felt he had overdid his spiel, they urged Tonio Fenech to run and he and they believed he had a chance. It is now clear that Mr Fenech, Budget speech and all, could not persuade his own party’s councillors, let alone the electorate.

No real and objective polls that I know of have asked the electorate in general who they preferred, but the result is very clear: the councillors believed that Mr Fenech was the reiteration of all the faults and mistakes associated with this government and that Dr Busuttil was the great hope.

This tallies from my own unscientific observations: people I spoke to could not understand how Mr Fenech could represent hope for the future when he was part of the past and its mistakes.

He would of course point to Malta’s success as one of the few economies that have emerged relatively unscathed from the crisis, but the councillors, even more obviously, decided this was not enough to win the election.

So Mr Fenech’s meagre result shows this is how the PN councillors perceive not just him but the entire Cabinet.

I note that the well-known rebels in PN ranks have fallen somewhat silent: JPO had the Prime Minister over to Bighi to celebrate his birthday, Mugliett has been silent throughout and as for Franco Debono, he has been blogging against Tonio Fenech throughout the campaign. In normal circumstances, that could have meant more votes for Mr Fenech and fewer votes for Dr Busuttil who already had got himself in hot water by speaking about reconciliation with the rebels.

So the councillors, by their vote, have expressed more than just an opinion as to the more presentable candidate. They have chosen, in effect, a clear electoral strategy and Dr Busuttil conveys this to the full: the party’s grass roots, as expressed by the councillors, have chosen to depart from the present Cabinet and to support a man without ministerial experience, a man who has not even been a general election candidate, a man who is a member of the European Parliament but not a member of Malta’s one. So they, in effect, have skipped an entire generation of ministers and intend presenting to the electorate a ‘tabula rasa’, a new beginning.

Will this do the trick with the electorate? I often ask myself whether anyone has been studying and identifying what’s wrong with this government and why people, including the PN grass roots, are so sceptical and negative about it. Many times Labour projects Gonzi on the billboards and builds a negative image of him. There is a lot to say in this regard. But maybe, just maybe, the problem is further down – the present Cabinet, the movers and shakers. Perhaps this Cabinet would feel this is a totally unfair description of its many achievements but maybe the public too has come to see it like this and maybe the councillors were also reacting in the same way.

Now this result, so clear and definitive, must lead to definitive conclusions, in particular to refocus the entire electoral campaign which is leaking all over the place. Again, one must now poll and see if, as was claimed by the Simon groupies, his appearance on the scene and his new role can work miracles. Can Simon walk on water?

One thing Dr Busuttil must avoid: being just a figurehead, without a real and effective, voice at the top table, allowing himself to be rolled over by the same ministers he so symbolically defeated.

As the days roll on, and as the election draws near, the PN’s campaign must come to terms with what the electorate has long been saying (and which the PN has resolutely refused to hear) and to offer something different from More Of The Same.

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