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Fine Gael: New Leader, Same Leader, New Direction?
Read more about: Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Irish Election, Irish Politics, Labour Party
Enda Kenny brought Fine Gael back to life. He has a style which was build upon slow progress. His Taoiseach credentials were perceived as weak, his calibre low and his ability moderate. He is likely to bring FG back to life by the end of play. Yet the party faces a great deal of soul searching in the coming weeks. He will be five years older in 2012, he will have had five years, he will have endured this loss to a stunning FF turnaround.
What does this mean? Firstly it means that Bertie is on par with Tony Blair as a leader who annihilates opposition leaders. Secondly it makes Fine Gael a party that has not won an election since 1988. The party needs to look deep into the results. Needs to take on board lessons from the electorate over years. There are two arguments now viz. Enda Kenny’s future:
1) This was always going to be a two election project. The leader has brought the party back from the dead and had a good result from a low base. It was a push to win this election and we held our vote. Enda deserves the chance to develop the party and increase the vote. The party needs to stop chopping and changing leaders
2) The party needs to reorient itself in its entirety. A Garrett Fitzgerald moment is needed to bring the party back to life. Change in policy, direction, style and leadership is required in order to bring this party back to the cusp of power. New strategies, new ideas and new leaders.
I am not a Fine Gael man, I think two holds some merit since the party isn’t the one to reject leaders, the electorate are.
Cian, your right to a degree. But I think FG should disband. FF are never going to go below 67 seats as constituensies atnad, no matter what way you divide them up. The internal wrnaglins in FG should allow them to split up. Some may go to FF, but if 2 or 3 smaller parties could be formed, there would be a better chance of some influence in governmaent by ex FG. If one party can manage at least 67 at any given election, then they are going to be in power.
FG disband? Huh? Bertie said on the interview tonight that he’d quit at 60 (about 4 years) and so we’ll soon be into a blairite adieu phase, when will bertie go will be our focus.
The comparison with Blair in terms of seeing off opposition leaders is a good one. The question is: Enda = Michael Howard? Arguably no — younger, not as easy to tag as one of the old line ministers still trying to run the show. So I think he can get another chance. But you’re right, it’s going to take another “Just Society” type surge to catapult FG to a serious chance of power, and the ingredients of that are not obvious.