PN MP Carm Mifsud Bonnici Was One Of Main Players Behind Attempted Ousting Of Former Leader
Carm Mifsud Bonnici (left) with Simon Busuttil. Photo: Facebook
It turns out that Nationalist MP Carm Mifsud Bonnici was one of the main architects behind Opposition leader Adrian Delia’s decision to try and oust his predecessor Simon Busuttil from the party.
Several PN sources who spoke to Lovin Malta noted Busuttil and Mifsud Bonnici never really saw eye to eye, with the latter displeased at Busuttil’s attempt to turn the PN into a more socially liberal party. Busuttil had also sidelined the experienced MP and former minister during his tenure as Opposition leader, demoting him from a shadow minister to a spokesperson for industrial relations.
Lovin Malta repeatedly tried to contact Mifsud Bonnici for comment but attempts failed as of the time of writing.
Last July, Delia listened to the advice of Mifsud Bonnici and other close advisers and called on Busuttil to suspend himself from the PN in the wake of the conclusion of a magisterial inquiry which rubbished the Egrant story. However, Busuttil refused to do and Delia ended up withdrawing his call after realising he didn’t have the numbers in the parliamentary group and executive committee to kick his predecessor out of the party.
Delia also stripped Busuttil off his good governance portfolio, taking the mantle on himself and leaving the former PN leader without a sector to officially shadow.
Carm Mifsud Bonnici with Opposition leader Adrian Delia
Mifsud Bonnici himself had been forced to resign as Home Affairs Minister back in 2012 after losing a vote of no confidence in Parliament. Then PN MP Franco Debono had famously cast the casting vote against Mifsud Bonnici, accusing the Minister of having failed to implement necessary reforms in the home affairs and justice sectors. Several of Debono’s proposed reforms, such as in judicial appointments, legal assistance to arrested people and a law to regulate party finances, have since been implemented.
Despite this, Mifsud Bonnici was again elected as an MP in the next two elections, albeit through a constitutional amendment.
Mifsud Bonnici’s father, President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, was in the news recently when, as chair of the Tumas Fenech Foundation for Education in Journalism, he denied having any connection with the Tumas Group’s CEO, who has been implicated in the 17 Black scandal.
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