A week to by-election day when the voters of Gibraltar
and not pundits like me will decide who will be our new MP. However with a week
to go I will none the less give my reflections on how I see the state of play
for the GSD. I will turn to Albert and to Neil in the coming days.
I am still of the view that the coming by-election
could be disastrous for the GSD and for Danny Feetham’s leadership. Had the GSD
been wise they would have sat this election out. They should have taken the
high moral ground and said that as the vacancy had come about due to the sad
and untimely death of Charles Bruzon, a GSLP Government minister, they would
not contest it. They would have suffered some ridicule for doing so but it
would have been the correct choice politically.
Instead Feetham allowed himself to be goaded in to
putting forward a candidate probably not realizing that the strategy of the
goaders was to make him do just that. So he has to fight the election on the
GSD’s record, which like an old 78 is scratched and warped, and attack a
government that is delivering on its manifesto.
In Marlene Nahon they have an able candidate or she
would be if she wasn’t standing for the GSD. You cannot take to the social
media and bear your political soul rubbishing the GSD in the process then do
the opposite of what you proclaimed and end up as the GSD candidate. You are
dead in the water before you start.
I see that Marlene describes herself as an avid horse
rider. Perhaps that is why some political hacks dubbed her as a stalking horse
candidate. If elected as an MP she could ride down Main Street and tying up her steed outside Parliament. She could even arrive as Lady Godiva wearing the GSD
manifesto. The sight of Joe Holliday on a pushbike was stunning enough but
nothing compared to Marlene and her trusty thoroughbred.
There are those who point to Marlene’s selection over
Danny’s boys, who were also named as GSD candidates for selection, suggesting
this demonstrated a snub or defeat for Feetham. I do not buy that argument: indeed
on this I believe Feetham got it 100 per cent right.
Marlene Nahon will fight the GSD corner albeit with
one if not two of her hands tied behind her back – an old circus pony rider’s
trick. In the unlikelihood of her winning, Danny can point to his excellent
choice of candidate. If she fails then his brother and his other standard bearers,
who I believe were just on the list as window dressing, live to fight another
political day unscathed. None of them wanted to be labelled the GSD candidate
who failed.
Perhaps the plight of the GSD in this by-election is
best demonstrated in the Facebook positing of Neil Costa. Neil is of course a
Liberal Minister in this Government and wrote: “Curious.
Only one central criticism on my 18 months on tourism and that related to what
we inherited from the GSD! No comments from the Opposition on my Budget Address
on the Port, the Gibraltar Maritime Administration or Commercial Affairs.
Instead, the brunt of criticism against me was about my public statements
against the then Government. We all felt in the twilight zone.”
In the twilight zone – and that is exactly where the
GSD will exist until they have the courage to come to terms with their past and
drive the stake through the previous government’s heart. You can’t attack the
present government when all your efforts have to go to defending your own
indefensible past.
By the by: I believe that Neil Costa has proved to be
one of the unsung successes of this Government. In opposition he shadowed
Yvette Del Agua. He demonstrated the GSD health service was on life support and
the voters agreed with him and sacked Del Agua. His new portfolios are a very
different kettle of fish. I met a tourism professional in London in the first months
after Neil became minister. He had met Neil and I was taken aback by the praise
heaped on him for his grasping of his portfolio and his intellect. Over a year
on obviously the tourism head honcho was spot on.
