Fine Gael damaged by leader fiasco

COMMENT

INSTEAD of making hay on the terrible poll results for Fianna Fáil over the weekend, Fine Gael have turned on themselves. The bizarre leadership challenge by Richard Bruton has backfired in a massive way and inflicted major damage on a party that must have fancied itself to be running the country after the next election.
Certainly, it is not difficult to see why certain factions within the party would be unhappy with Kenny. He has utterly failed to take the party into a strong position at a time when Fianna Fáil are experiencing the lowest ebb in the party’s history. He has failed to impress in front of the cameras and generally mucked up at a time when Opposition is the easiest gig on the go.
Instead, the latest poll results have seen a jump for Labour and its leader, the canny Eamon Gilmore. Although, it must be said, Gilmore is not the most sparkling performer in Irish political history. His surge in popularity is more an indictment of Cowen and Kenny’s political impotence than anything else.
In an effort to stamp his authority on the party, Kenny has given Bruton the chop but this is more a gesture than anything else. Clearly, there is a seething core of frontbenchers and party members who no longer wish to be led by him. Even if he does secure the support of the majority of the party, he will be aware that a group still exists who do not feel he should be leader. If he hangs on and this group continues to do their work behind the scenes, party disunity will be the result.
Party disunity going into the next election would be nothing short of suicidal. It would pave the way for a possible Labour victory, as it is unlikely the Irish public will forgive Fianna Fáil any time in the next 10 years.
Now, instead of the party bringing down the knife on their wounded enemies in Fianna Fáil, the party seems to have turned the weapon on themselves. It is very unsightly and slightly unbelievable to watch. Even Bruton’s weekend performance when he went to ground and kept his lips tightly sealed did not come across as the actions of a powerful leader in waiting.
The Fine Gael party must be rubbing their heads in forlorn despair. By Sunday evening, they were faced with a choice between a lame duck leader and a finance spokesman, who couldn’t get it together to speak publically and state his intentions. Not a pleasant choice. Bruton’s uninspired style of challenge saw him fall under the sword, as Kenny did what any decent leader would do and began slaughtering his enemies.
Clare TD Joe Carey tweeted links to his statement calling for party unity but despite such calls, the damage has been well and truly done. The party is split and unless something is done to sort this mess out, it will remain so for some time to come.
It will be a very difficult time for young TDs like Joe, who will clearly want to progress to a ministerial post at some time in their career. Joe has thrown his weight behind Kenny in his statement, saying, “Enda Kenny should have the support of the party to lead Fine Gael in to the next election and then into Government”. Does this mean he will languish in the background if another leader comes to the fore having backed the wrong horse?
Back Bruton and Kenny will regard you as little more than pond life, laughing at the suggestion you would ever be elevated beyond the back benches. Difficult times indeed.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil and Labour sit back and watch. They must think Christmas has come early. On the weekend of such shocking poll results to have the Opposition turn not on you at your weakest point but on themselves, must seem like something of a dream. I’m sure Brian Cowen and co must be laughing themselves silly at the attempts of Bruton, the silent assassin, to unseat Enda Kenny and the lasting damage it will inflict on Fine Gael.
Most delighted of all will be Eamon Gilmore and the Labour Party. Quietly, their popularity has risen and country has sunk deeper in the mire. The level of publicly held vitriol for Fianna Fáil is astounding and Fine Gael’s keystone cops approach to politics mean they can just sit back and watch their popularity grow. It is for this reason more than any other that they have benefitted.
In reality, it is difficult to see what difference they offer in their politics but maybe this has been to their benefit. They are now so like the other parties that people just see them as an option that might be worth trying. The same old politics with a different rosette.
It will be very interesting to watch how this fiasco pans out but we can say for certain that Fine Gael are damaged. What they need to do now is get some serious damage control in place.
This situation needs to be sorted as quickly as possible or the ramifications could well be felt at the next election. That election will be an interesting one, given the poll results we saw last weekend and the kind of political madness over the same few days.
Perhaps there is a self-destruct button somewhere in the heart of Fine Gael. Having been the Opposition for so long, are they terrified of Government? It is perhaps one explanation for what we have seen in the last week.
They need to sort it out if that’s the case or they will remain in Opposition for many years to come.