The Prime Minister wants us to believe that his decision to set up a public inquiry into the death of Jean Paul Sofia was not a U-turn. He says this with a straight face when he knows that, since the death of the youngster last December, his family has been calling for one, gathering more and more support as time went by while Robert Abela relentlessly rejected their plea, prolonging their agony and distress.

He says it was not a U-turn when, four days before his suntanned face appeared to tell us he had changed his mind, his government voted against an Opposition motion which demanded the setting up of the public inquiry.

He bizarrely states that “society, the country brought these people (Sofia family) to such a situation that to obtain what is theirs they need to hold protests” when he knows that he was the one forcing them to take these measures as he was denying them the public inquiry. He said this on the same day that he had been described as a “gaffe-prone” PM by people close to him. That quote went a long way to confirm it.

Abela also wants us to believe that his U-turn came about after he had received information that the magistrate carrying out the magisterial inquiry into the tragedy – an inquiry with completely different tasks to the public inquiry that was sought by the Sofia family and others – had requested an extension of time to complete her task. The fact that, as the Chamber of Advocates remarked, he came in possession of such knowledge which is supposedly only available to the Attorney General is, in itself, a matter of concern. The magisterial inquiry has since been concluded, as the PM confirmed on Friday, and has triggered a number of arrests.

We reckon that there is an altogether different reason for the Prime Minister’s U-turn. He did so not out of conviction, but out of convenience, as he was seeing the mounting public outrage against his stand translating into loss of support for his government, which meant loss of votes too. He changed his mind not because he wanted to do the right thing, but because he realised that by doing the wrong thing he was losing popularity and support.

In between the parliamentary vote and Monday’s press conference, anger against Abela grew rapidly after he first hosted an activity at his official residence in Girgenti and then, after he had said he regretted attending, he was filmed leaving on holiday on his luxurious yacht. Doing so in the face of a grieving mother compounded the people’s disdain towards an insensitive Prime Minister. Even a Prime Minister needs to have days of leisure, that’s for sure, but escaping from the country while it was under shock as a result of the parliamentary vote, and preparing to express itself in protest, exposed Abela’s disregard to public sentiment and, we must say it, lack of common sense.

As thousands of people last Monday were on their way to a vigil organised by the Sofia family outside the PM’s office at Castille, including many who are close to the Labour Party, the PM realised there was no other option but to accede to a request which he had adamantly vetoed for several months.  Even Joseph Muscat joined the quest for a public inquiry, and one can only wonder whether Abela’s strings are still being pulled by his predecessor, given that soon after Muscat’s comments, Abela announced his colossal U-turn.

Had he not resisted such a legitimate call for so long, the board of inquiry would have already started the process and we would be much closer to a conclusion than we are today.

It is therefore no surprise that – apart from what has been said in public about a head of government who for several months did not read the people’s indignation, thinking that the pressure would go away – his own colleagues, sitting next to him or behind him in Parliament, have become increasingly frustrated.

They were forced (at least some of them) to toe Abela’s stand against the public inquiry, going as far as to vote against the Opposition’s motion when, in their heart of hearts they wanted to do otherwise. They had to face questions from the Labour grassroots to sustain the government’s original stand against the public inquiry. And now they have to explain to them the sudden shift – which, yes, we will continue to describe as a U-turn.

As if all this was not enough, Abela then wrongly chose to emerge from the main door of his office while people were still placing candles in memory of Jean Paul Sofia. Many interpreted this as a provocation. What did the PM expect? That he would have been applauded for doing something he should have done months ago?