Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando may have left the Nationalist Party last year, but not before arguably spurring the party to implement a number of changes.

After all, the PN’s changing positions on civil liberties appear to be the direct consequence of being wrong-footed by 2011’s divorce referendum, which was itself the result of a surprise private member’s bill presented by the MP.

When asked on the matter, Dr Pullicino Orlando states that he is satisfied to hear the PN’s and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s recent declarations on issues such as divorce and same-sex relationships, and states that they showed how the divorce referendum – in which a yes vote prevailed despite the “virtually unlimited resources” of the PN and of the church – served as a wake-up call.

He also recounts how the process leading to the referendum had been frustrating, pointing out that people who he knew agreed with him failed to show support during numerous PN executive meetings. But at least, he states, there has been a recognition that society has moved ahead of politicians in this aspect.

But while he welcomes such changes, civil liberties were not his only grievance with the party which he left after being disciplined over his decision to vote for a Labour motion calling for the resignation of EU ambassador Richard Cachia Caruana.

“Obviously, it was a hard step for me. I have been active within the PN far longer than most of its present candidates, and I am proud of it,” he notes. “But certain developments, particularly in the last five years, took me to this extreme.”

Dr Pullicino Orlando – who announces that he will not vote in the next general election – insists that the party’s main problem was the strong influence Mr Cachia Caruana and Minister Austin Gatt exert over it, an issue which persists since they play a leading role in the present electoral campaign.

“If the PN wins the election against all odds, the status quo will remain, and this will lead to people like me – and there are many – continuing to feel uncomfortable with identifying themselves within the party.”

When asked, he readily goes one further to state that “the PN must lose the election.”

He notes that a degree of change in power is important to maintain the strength of democracy – though he argues against change for its own sake nevertheless. But he adds that such a change is needed now, especially since the PN has been hijacked by “supremely arrogant” elements, who feel that through spin, they could sell everything to the public.

He recounts that during discussions of the PN parliamentary group, a number of people regularly argued that “we’ll manage to spin it” when faced with issues that were clearly going to be unpopular.

“Politics is not just spin. Spin is important, but there must be substance behind it,” he maintains.

The MP says that he could not accept working within a party which knew it was in the wrong on issues but which still believed it could convince the public otherwise.

“The party must revert to being the one that gave substance to Maltese politics,” he adds.

Perhaps he feels a sense of déjà vu on the matter, as he points out that what led him to the PN in the first place was a “regime” which appeared to believe that people were gullible, and which insisted that it knew what was right for them.

The PN government seems to have fallen into this trap, in his opinion.

“They are treating the Maltese are idiots,” he remarks. “But the Maltese have regularly made the right choices... on integration, independence, on EU, on civil liberties.”

Labour ‘never as organised as now’

As far as the current campaign is concerned, Dr Pullicino Orlando – who points out that he has been actively involved in campaigns since 1981 – states that he has never saw Labour as organised, as on the ball, as it is this time round, while the Nationalist Party appears to be simply reacting.

The PN has been repeatedly insisting that Labour would be far too risky a choice, and Dr Pullicino Orlando remarks that, politically the party is right to emphasise that there is an element of the unknown about Labour. But stressing that Labour would lead to financial ruin may be an overstatement.

“We’re not exactly in a bed of roses when it comes to our financial situation,” he points out.  “If I were running the campaign, I would move away from that topic.”

Dr Pullicino Orlando also takes the PN to task for blaming Labour for credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade Malta.

While stressing his respect for Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, he states that he apparently expected Labour to do something that was unprecedented in Malta, and rarely done elsewhere: an opposition approving the government’s budget.

Such an argument does not even convince diehard PN supporters, he adds, pointing out that he counts many of them among his personal friends.

Dr Pullicino Orlando also disagrees with bringing up the 80s, even as he points out that he and his family had suffered back then.

He argues that emphasising violent incidents such as what had happened at Tal-Barrani and Raymond Caruana was not in the national interest. Bringing up Mr Caruana’s murder year after year also causes undue suffering to his relatives, he adds.

Moreover, Dr Pullicino Orlando points out, Dr Muscat was “a baby” back then, who definitely had nothing to do with that Labour Party.

Another piece of advice to his former party was to focus on its strong points – and to steer clear of trying to defend the indefensible, as this would not be credible.

Dr Pullicino Orlando insists that Dr Gatt’s continued prominence within the party was problematic since he felt obliged to defend many “fiascos” which his ministry was responsible for, mentioning Arriva, SmartCity, and the Fairmount contracts at the shipyard as an example.

Energy has been the main topic in this campaign so far, and Dr Pullicino Orlando also brings up the controversial BWSC-built Delimara power extension, pointing out that he still cannot understand how regulations – introduced by a previous PN government – were changed to accommodate it.

“If anything, the drive should have been towards more stringent regulations,” he exclaims.

Labour’s plans to reduce energy bills have proved to be the main topic of the campaign’s first two weeks, and Dr Pullicino Orlando describes the government’s use of a “quickly drawn up” report by KPMG – in which the audit firm points out that it did not verify the figures its calculations were based on – as “surreal and almost farcical.”

The same officials who provided the figures, he points out, were the ones who put Enemalta heavily in debt, adding that he was not among those who trusted them.

As for Labour’s plans, he does not go into detail, but points out that it made sense to switch to gas and questions whether the government should have looked into gas terminals instead of prioritising the BWSC-built plant.

The MP also welcomes its call to focus on solar, insisting that “wind does not make any sense” in Malta.

He points out how he had opposed a proposed wind farm in Bahrija, particularly due to the “shadow flicker” effect – through which the shifting shadows of the blades of wind turbines cause a strobe-like effect which would affect nearby homes in Rabat and Mtarfa – part of his constituency. This effect could cause psychological harm and trigger seizures in epileptic people, he notes.

Dissent, not disloyalty

Dr Pullicino Orlando’s opposition to wind farms was one of many occasions in which he disagreed with the government’s positions over the years, earning him the reputation of a “rebel” MP.

But he rejects accusations of being disloyal, while stressing that an MP’s duty was to be loyal to his country, his constituents and his party – in that order.

“As far as I know, I tried to be loyal to all three – which was a balancing act – as well as I could, in the very difficult circumstances we faced in the past five years,” he remarks. He admits that on a number of occasions, he found it difficult to support the PN in parliamentary votes, although he only broke ranks on Mr Cachia Caruana’s resignation.

“That time I could not,” he explains, adding that the vote was not a money bill or a confidence vote, and that he could not accept such behaviour – Labour accused Mr Cachia Caruana of cooperating with the US to overcome parliamentary scrutiny – from a public official.

He observes that he backed the 2013 Budget – Franco Debono did not, although Dr Pullicino Orlando was quick to point out that the Ghaxaq MP may have had his own valid reasons for doing so – as he was elected to support the government, even though he was no longer a government MP.

“The last five years were difficult for me and my family... I prefer to forget some things we went through,” he says, pointing out that he received credible threats over which people have been prosecuted.

Dr Pullicino Orlando also rejects suggestions that he should have kept his criticism private, adding that he had no choice but do so on occasions where his concerns were ignored. He noted that many initiatives and projects which he criticised were rescinded or mitigated, proving that something had been wrong.

The MP also points out that he has long expressed disagreement on issues, even during Eddie Fenech Adami’s leadership, citing his successful opposition to a landfill near Mnajdra and a cement plant in Siggiewi – “I know that ‘Caqnu’ (developer Charles Polidano) received a guarantee that the project would be approved,” he notes on the latter – as examples.

“Those who elected me did not want a yes-man,” he observes.

But will they get to vote for him again?

“Never say never,” he replies, pointing out that he was all set to retire from politics in 2003 due to personal issues, before a change in the situation led him to change his mind shortly before election time.

However, he notes that he does not see any room to do so in the present situation.

The election of Simon Busuttil as deputy leader does not change much in Dr Pullicino Orlando’s view.

He reveals that Dr Busuttil had tried to persuade him to reintegrate himself with the party, but his reply was that he could not feel at ease in a party which has become dominated by certain attitudes. He adds that he could not understand how the PN’s deputy leader publicly states that he ends up disagreeing with Dr Gatt after spending five minutes with him, only to have the latter run the campaign.

Once more, Dr Pullicino Orlando recalls the PN executive’s meetings ahead of the divorce referendum, recalling how people who he knew favoured the introduction of divorce spoke in a different manner.

He adds: “it’s not politics the way it should be done in my eyes. Maybe I’m an idealist...”