It is time for Adrian Delia to do some serious thinking.
He is not likely to be told this by his advisors. It has long become clear that basic common sense has abandoned the corridors of PN HQ for some time and has been replaced with a siege mentality and the warped understanding of reality that goes with that.
Nor is he going to get this from his fans. They are many and they do the job well of supporting a leader in good times and in bad. I am often critical of political fandom but I can understand that no leader can be alone when facing adversity. And sometimes it does not matter whether all supporters understand all the reasons for a cause. Even their cheers and their applause are enough to keep one going.
But he can find this inside of himself.
Adrian Delia has a very clear understanding of the enormous weight of the allegations his wife has made against him in court. Apart from her and his children only he knows what of those allegations, if anything, is true. As with any dispute he knows what’s still unsaid and in his mind and in his heart there is what he would believe is context for whatever truth is in them.
But that’s a matter for him, his wife and the judge who will decide about the outcome of their dispute and the settlement of their separation.
But Adrian Delia is not just a soon to be ex-husband.
He is the Leader of the Opposition and he must also think about his ability to fulfil that role.
Adrian Delia knows the weight of the allegations against him. He also knows those allegations are well and truly rumoured. In the two days since they were first filed I have received literally dozens of WhatsApp messages containing screenshots of what looks like an electronic draft of Adrian Delia’s wife’s court submission.
It makes grim reading which many people are indulging in.
No one has the right to conclude those allegations are the unvarnished truth as much as no one has the right to conclude they are lies. No one but the judge who will hear all sides of the story, listen to experts, evaluate the evidence, and on the basis of all of that and the guidance of the law will reach the conclusions she needs to reach.
It is in that room, beyond the glare of publicity, created in part by idle curiosity and, inevitably in part, because of his political and constitutional role and the public’s interest in knowing the character of its leaders, that true judgement can be arrived at.
I am not here repeating the allegations made against the Leader of the Opposition by his wife in court. That, I want to make clear, is no judgement on their reliability.
It is the horror that one day, their children will look up what was written about their parents during their childhood and find those gory details on my blog that holds my hand.
But Adrian Delia knows that the risk of the allegations surfacing — whatever their veracity — is enormous, practically a certainty. The only way he can protect the Constitutional position he serves, the party he leads and his own children, is to step aside without any further delay.
Adrian Delia understands, he must understand, that the allegations have a real impact on anyone’s understanding of his suitability for his present office, let alone the office he aspires to.
His advisors are not seeing it that way and they seem to be egging him on to keep fighting until the Russians can smell the gasoline. That’s just tragic and I have nothing but sighs over that.
And his troops will go down to the man, defending him with their life for as long as he stands. They will keep firing at anyone who stands up to point out the obvious, especially because those are very few. Most people are just laughing at his expense.
Even for the sake of those troops, in gratitude for their blind, utterly pointless loyalty, Adrian Delia must be the one to take control of his own fate. And though it is way too late to say he can still walk out of his office one final time with his head held high, he must realise the pain will be greater if he delays any further.