Inda sacking Richard Bruton

Oh dear:

Kenny-supporting MEP Jim Higgins raised the temperature with an astonishing attack on rival Richard Bruton’s camp – accusing them of almost acting like fascists.

“They are simply, if you like, being anti-democratic, it’s almost fascist, if you like, to say I will not serve under Enda Kenny, I will not accept the democratic choice,” he said at the front gate of Leinster House.

“You either accept democracy or you don’t, you can’t half accept democracy.”

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/crunch-fine-gael-meeting-underway-462084.html#ixzz0r7WvPp46
​
Click to expand...

I thought democracy also allowed you to move for no confidence in the leader, but it looks like Mr Higgins says if you think that, you're fascist. No true democracy is you get elected and can then never be removed under any circumstances.


Which sounds the most like fascism?
 
Higgins' stance is ridiculous. Kenny fired Bruton because he said he couldn't have someone on his front bench who had publicly declared that they didn't support him. So surely it has to follow through that it is impossible for those who have declared their support for Bruton to be on Kenny's front bench (if he survives the vote)?

I also think Bruton has been getting flack unfairly over "causing" this situation. As I understand it, during a phone call over the weekend, Kenny asked Bruton to publicly declare his support for him (Kenny). Why did he ask the question if he was not sure what the answer was?
 
TreeTiger said:
So surely it has to follow through that it is impossible for those who have declared their support for Bruton to be on Kenny's front bench (if he survives the vote)?
Click to expand...

They won't be, or at least that's Kenny's next move. Unfortunately, if you were to draw up a list of the brightest and the best of FG, most of them have sided with Bruton. Kenny's going to have very slim pickings for his bench.
 
Latrade said:
They won't be, or at least that's Kenny's next move. Unfortunately, if you were to draw up a list of the brightest and the best of FG, most of them have sided with Bruton. Kenny's going to have very slim pickings for his bench.
Click to expand...

Unless of course there is a u-turn by many of them! The party is ruining itself. Even if Bruton wins, the strongest members of the front bench apart from Flanagan all supported Kenny. Whoever wins is going to have to do some serious mending of fences.
 
Even if Bruton wins, the strongest members of the front bench apart from Flanagan all supported Kenny
Click to expand...

This is a matter of opinion. There are some who think that the more progressive members of the front bench - those most likely to attract new voters - supported Bruton. Whereas your traditional Killnascully types supported Kenny.
 
Sunny said:
Unless of course there is a u-turn by many of them! The party is ruining itself. Even if Bruton wins, the strongest members of the front bench apart from Flanagan all supported Kenny. Whoever wins is going to have to do some serious mending of fences.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't agree with your point about the strongest members sticking with Kenny Sunny. I think if Kenny wins it will be hard to recover alright though. It really depends how this vote goes but there is a chance they could become stronger from this if they all rally behind the new leader (should Kenny lose). It's a shame it's come to this tho as personally I liked Kenny as he comes across as a politician with real integrity and values - but these days it seems to be more about personality!
 
csirl said:
This is a matter of opinion. There are some who think that the more progressive members of the front bench - those most likely to attract new voters - supported Bruton. Whereas your traditional Killnascully types supported Kenny.
Click to expand...

I agree it's all opinon but Leo Varadkar, Olwyn Enright, Michael Creed, Olivia Mitchell and Billy Timmins are not exactly shining stars of Irish political life. Neither are many who are supporting Enda Kenny so that's why the two camps will have to find someway to work together whoever wins. Flanagan was a huge loss to Kenny.
 
csirl said:
This is a matter of opinion. There are some who think that the more progressive members of the front bench - those most likely to attract new voters - supported Bruton. Whereas your traditional Killnascully types supported Kenny.
Click to expand...

You would discount the Killanascully element at your peril. While it might be convenient to assume that the core talent resides with the Green Isle Nine and their accomplices, they seem like an unreasonably smug group.

Whoever wins needs to acknowledge and embrace the core traditional group that got FG where they are now.
 
going to be hard for FG to unite again after this - could be a shambles. Be interesting to see what Bruton and his team do now.
 
Purple said:
Now they are screwed.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. The outgoing memebers of the front bench aren't necessarily any better than some FG bankbenchers. They were just more prominent. There are potentially two years before the next election within which there would be time for the new front bench to raise their profile.

It seems now that Bruton's strategy was based on a misguided belief that Kenny would fall on his sword with the right encouragement. Perhaps there's more to the man than we've seen to date. The experience might even strenghten him.
 
Staples said:
Perhaps there's more to the man than we've seen to date.
Click to expand...

FG are screwed now. The more progressive element of the party have lost.

Kenny let this happen in a week when FF should have been crucified. The man just has a neck and nothing more than that.

Time for a new party. Time for the next Des O'Malley.
 
Staples said:
Perhaps there's more to the man than we've seen to date. The experience might even strenghten him.
Click to expand...

I can only hope you're right Staples - right now this country needs a viable alternative government and I'd fear that this week might have seriously damaged that.
 
VOR said:
FG are screwed now. The more progressive element of the party have lost.

Kenny let this happen in a week when FF should have been crucified. The man just has a neck and nothing more than that.

Time for a new party. Time for the next Des O'Malley.
Click to expand...

Agree, Kenny surviving has cost FG the next election. Talk about snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.

I'm guessing that the vote was very close as they wont reveal the count.
 
i think kenny has shown what a strong leader he really is! right up until last night everone in the media had him"written off"....but he faced down the 'plotters' and won the day! that takes real courage.
 
Fair play to Inda, the question now is Kinny weld the bits of FG together into a coherent and cohesive whole?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top