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Tom Parlon to Lead the Progressive Democrats from Outside the Dail?
Read more about: Cork South Central, Government, Green Party, Irish Election, Irish Politics, Laoighis-Offaly, Progressive Democrats
I didn’t get a chance to comment earlier on the news that Mary Harney is to seek a rule change in order to allow the Progressive Democrats to draw their leader from outside the Dail. This is likely to put Tom Parlon into the driving seat for the leadership (barring a surprise tilt from Fiona O Malley or Liz O Donnell).
It makes sense that this will be the case, since Parlon is widely credited with drawing around 1/3 of the party membership into the party through his base in Laois-Offaly. That was scant consolation for losing a seat last time but as leader and likely Senator, Parlon may give the Progressive Democrats something they have been lacking over the past five years and possibly since inception. A leader with an eye only on growing the party.
Last weekend it was reported that Paul Mackay, party trustee, was uncomfortable at the closeness with Fianna Fail displayed by the Progressive Democrats and I agree with him up to a point. The party took a gamble when Mary Harney sought to move away from the nice job at Enterprise and into Health. It was an attempt to expand the PD image and improve the association of the party with radicalism and problem solving. At the time it was opined that the risk to the Progressive Democrats was large (as was the potential reward), as it turned out they seemed to bear the brunt of disillusion with service provision and a number of high profile government clangers (not all of their own making).
This rationale, to my mind, partly explains the dismal PD performance at the election, including the loss of their leader. The vital premise that the party was perceived as an appendege to Fianna Fail (for the bad bits) and a party of evil people (when FF were happy to take credit) leads to the conclusion that the PDs were far too close to Fianna Fail and need some identity work. Whether you accept the premise, I think PD supporters will need to think long and hard on the conlcusion since it seems to me to be a genuine problem. (I might add that some of this outcome may await the Green Party which is why the following may be applicable to their Senator/Manager Dan Boyle in leading the party forward from behind the scenes.)
Parlon as leader from the Seanad however has a certain ability to get around these problems. As a man and a politician he is capable of speaking out. In government he was often shouldering the burden of the party line, yet he was prone to moments of insight devoid of spin which made for interesting politics. From the outside he may be able to bring that to bear on the Progressive Democrat position. Mary Harney is tied into the goverment and their decisions in a way Tom Parlon will never be. Collective responsibility is not a problem for him and he can operate within that grey area of party differences with the added weight of being party leader.
Surely journalists will pounce upon him and say that he and Harney are opposed and so forth but it is unlikely to work that way. He and Harney will not be opposed since he will toe the line on Health policy. On other policy he has the space, which he will surely take, to criticise the policy proposals from Green and Fianna Fail ministers. This idea tacks very closely to an idea Gerry had a while back on a ’semi-detached stance’ for how the Greens might need to manage a government coalition with Fianna Fail. The leader will have the space and time to critique government policy, “in an effort to improve it e.g.”, from the point of view of the Progressive Democrats. This will allow for identity creation in a way neither Harney nor McDowell had the capacity to achieve it. This also offers the potential to unleash a dynamism within the party which would generate new ideas with an eye on five years time, or sooner.
The second aspect of Parlon after all, was that he brough so many members to the party. Parlon as a personality attracts people with him and brings them to the orgnaisation. That is a peculiarly Fianna Fail talent (in terms of the consistency of turnover of members) and one he will no doubt need to maximise if he is to become a successful party leader, or even just leader. He will get the time to work on key areas of support (East Limerick) and bring in candidates and renew members in such a way that they may challenge in five years time. This microcosm applies to the lost seats but also to new areas, what gave the PDs such hope in 2002 was the Mae Sextons of this world as much as the McDowells.
I mentioned the Green Party earlier with this context in mind, their organisational brains is widely reputed to be Boyle. This means that they too could enjoy the benefit of having him focus on the tasks before the Green Party of maintaining distance and identity while building up their base and expanding ground for the next local elections (vital in terms of internal Green Part indicators) and the next general election. The two parties may yet benefit from their big hitters losing a seat but remaining within the fray. Whether this happens is beyond my powers of clairvoyance, I’m afraid.
This time the leader will no longer be burdened, if that is the correct term, with office and representation. He will be leader and for once that will entail a focus first and foremost on building the party thorough local elections, membership, policy and finally general election strategy. These will not be added to a ministerial burden but the sole purpose of his office. The question is that with only two seats and under 4% of the national vote, is it all a bit too late?
Parlon’s organisational expertise is solely needed by the party - but I don’t believe he is leadership-material in a largely urban-party. Historically, we have only regained lost seats in south Dublin i.e. DSE, DL and DS. Would a rural leader be able to connect with such voters? We tend to get a very urban, middle-class vote. I would prefer Colm O’Gorman but would keep Parlon as Party-President. COG should remain a Senator but if the press reports are true it’s likely that failed candidates Parlon and Fiona O’Malley will get the nod in that respect. A shame because O’Gorman’s articulate, media-friendly image would appeal much more to urban, south Dublin voters imho.
Interesting post, I never thought of Parlon as leadership material. Fiona O’Malley is a little lightweight, but I think that if Liz O’Donnell wanted the leadership she’d be more likely to get it than Parlon. She’s as urban and middle-class as you could want, and has a decent rep for her junior ministerial work. Either way, I think they were better off out of government in order to do the rebuilding work. A two-TD party in coalition with a 77-TD one has no way of distinguishing itself at the next election. As Paul McKay argued, they’ll just be seen as a “downtown sub-office of Fianna Fail”
Perhaps Brian Boru should take over the leadership as he is clearly more enthusiastic about the PDs than anything else.
To be honest Brian with the losses of last May in both seat and personnel terms, there is a need to create a new history in the party. They will need the talent to challenge after losing many people to retirement. To that end Parlon is a vital element of any leadership.
IT seems likely that your correct on their urban characteristic but a part of me feels that O Gorman could well be put into the Seanad ahead of O Malley in order to generate a 1-2 partnership that covers the organisation, identity and liberalisation of the party which appears to be sorely needed to recover any loss.
O Gorman needs more time in the game before challenging and considering his expertise in policy is there but in a different area he may need more time to get involved with the formation of policy and the foundation of ideas, working with Parlon will develop that since it seems almost certain now that Harney will be gone in five years time.
CJ, I disagree, with the support of the members making up 30% of the electoral college and Harney likely to announce senators before a leadership contest there is almost 40% of the vote available to Parlon from the off. Equally, I think Liz is gone for good (and it will be interesting in 2 years time to see who comes out to campaign for them at the locals).
You know, there’s a touch of the Wehrmacht about Parlon - and I mean that in a good way. First sign of trouble and Mcdowell was running to the American lines, waving a white flag out of his arse, screaming “I surrender, I surrender”, while Parlon was still lobbing grenades, shooting at the Russians, and taking pot-shots at the traitors all around him. Now there’s a fighting spirit. Just what you need when the chips are down. I think Parlon as leader would be great for the PDs. Wish we had his fighting spirit in the Labour party.
Parlon’s picture as leader of the PDs should have him with a patch over his eye and a scar down his right cheek, wiping the blood of his enemy from his bayonet.
And God, it just shows what a lily-livered coward McDowell really was. no character at all. a pathetic little man.