Kenny sacks Bruton

ANXIOUS · 14-06-2010 10:55pm

Not very impressed by rb, It comes across as it's his god given right to be toasieach. Pk got it spot on if enda wins god help enda, Richard and fg in general. Haven't heard many fg members outside of Dublin supporting rb.

fifth · 14-06-2010 10:56pm

I don't blame Richard Bruton one bit for this 'political suicide', someone who feels so strongly about this should never have been forced to sit on his hands until after possibly Kenny gets elected .

I think it would have been worse if he waited, I've a lot more respect for him after today.

cagney88 · 14-06-2010 10:58pm

While I have always though that Enda was the Alan Partridge of party leaders, I think what Richard Bruton has done is to expose the fragility of the party.

historyoflime · 14-06-2010 11:01pm

No applause for Bruton on The Frontline...

SB-08 · 14-06-2010 11:02pm

Ivan Yates has pretty much confirmed that up to 10 front benchers inclduing Leo, Simon Coveny and Brian Hayes will express no confidence in Enda tomorrow and offer their resignation. Even if he wins the vote overall he will lose most of his competent people so he will have to go.

Bruton didnt come accross as well as usual in the interview - pretty nervous actually. I wonder why he had to leave so quickly - hopefully he is off to Vincent Browne:D

SB-08 · 14-06-2010 11:13pm

SB-08 wrote: »

hopefully he is off to Vincent Browne:D

Vincent just confirmed Bruton will be joining him after the break. Should be a lot more entertaining than the Frontline interview - I am sure Vincent will try to wind him up and no doubt take credit for his decision to challenge Enda.:rolleyes:

bleg · 14-06-2010 11:17pm

If 10 front benchers have no confidence in Enda his position is untenable and must resign.

hotmail.com · 14-06-2010 11:27pm

Jessica Fletcher off Tv3 said 9 frontbenchers are behind Bruton. Could be all over by the afternoon tomorrow.

SB-08 · 14-06-2010 11:28pm

bleg wrote: »

If 10 front benchers have no confidence in Enda his position is untenable and must resign.

I have a feeling Kenny will have to be physically removed as the leader tbh - I think he will sack the 9 or 10 tomorrow and then win the overall vote by a small amount on Thursday and will attempt to continue on and in turn ruin the party. He can either resign or ruin the party by sacking most of it's main front benchers. The only option is for him to resign and if he can't see that then he has no hope.

dixiefly · 14-06-2010 11:35pm

Interesting comparison between Bruton performances on Frontline & Vincent Browne. Pretty decent performance on Frontline but imo he is getting filleted by Browne

14-06-2010 11:35pm

VB's burning the life outa Bruton..

14-06-2010 11:37pm

Jesus..Bruton was laughing like a little girl again..

dixiefly · 14-06-2010 11:39pm

Appalling answer by Bruton when asked the obvious question by Browne about the timing just before the no confidence motion in Cowen. He seemed to regard the dail vote as irrelevant ... a pretty inappropriate answer for someone that has aspirations to be Taoiseach.

Flimbos · 14-06-2010 11:40pm

VB's interview with Bruton is a lot more interesting than PK's.

Will Richard Bruton stick around to review the morning's papers though??

bleg · 14-06-2010 11:42pm

dixiefly wrote: »

Appalling answer by Bruton when asked the obvious question by Browne about the timing just before the no confidence motion in Cowen. He seemed to regard the dail vote as irrelevant ... a pretty inappropriate answer for someone that has aspirations to be Taoiseach.

It is irrelevant. It was an automatic reaction to the opinion poll with no real ramifications except a bit of shadow boxing.

Wide Road · 14-06-2010 11:42pm

Richard is a very busy man travelling from rte studios to tv3. Listening to him on V Browne, it looks like Dr James O'Reilly got it completly wrong when he expects Richard Bruton to rejoin the front bench after Enda wins the leadership battle.

Liam Byrne · 14-06-2010 11:44pm

Top marks to Pat Rabbitte for bringing up the real political issue of this week!

Banter Joe · 14-06-2010 11:44pm

dixiefly wrote: »

Appalling answer by Bruton when asked the obvious question by Browne about the timing just before the no confidence motion in Cowen. He seemed to regard the dail vote as irrelevant ... a pretty inappropriate answer for someone that has aspirations to be Taoiseach.

Yeah, giving an honest answer. This guy doesn't stand a chance.

snow ghost · 14-06-2010 11:47pm

What an embarassment on Vincent Browne - Bruton giggling away like a little child after being put on the ropes by Browne.

Does this Muppet Bruton honestly think he offers a viable alternative as a leader? He has no charisma, no credibility and no integrity as for him being a leader, that is just ridiculous.

He stabbed his leader in the back when the focus should clearly have been on ousting Cowen et al, and this giggling traitor with nothing to offer is doing more damage to his party than anyone could imagine.

Bruton - a disgraceful weasel.

Aidric · 14-06-2010 11:49pm

snow ghost wrote: »

What an embarassment on Vincent Browne - Bruton giggling away like a little child after being put on the ropes by Browne.

Does this Muppet Bruton honestly think he offers a viable alternative as a leader? He has no charisma, no credibility and no integrity as for him being a leader, that is just ridiculous.

He stabbed his leader in the back when the focus should clearly have been on ousting Cowen et al, and this giggling traitor with nothing to offer is doing more damage to his party than anyone could imagine.

Bruton - a disgraceful weasel.

location = westport. lol.

14-06-2010 11:50pm

snow ghost wrote: »

What an embarassment on Vincent Browne - Bruton giggling away like a little child after being put on the ropes by Browne.

Does this Muppet Bruton honestly think he offers a viable alternative as a leader? He has no charisma, no credibility and no integrity as for him being a leader, that is just ridiculous.

He stabbed his leader in the back when the focus should clearly have been on ousting Cowen et al, and this giggling traitor with nothing to offer is doing more damage to his party than anyone could imagine.

Bruton - a disgraceful weasel.

Sadly, i agree with most of that..

snow ghost · 14-06-2010 11:51pm

Aidric wrote: »

location = westport. lol.

Location = irrelavant, never voted for Fine Gael in my life.

tracert · 14-06-2010 11:52pm

snow ghost wrote: »

What an embarassment on Vincent Browne - Bruton giggling away like a little child after being put on the ropes by Browne.

I think he does this when he gets nervous. Vincent pressed him last week about backing Kenny and he ended up doing the giggling and ("jokingly") saying of course he'd love to be Taoiseach- giggle giggle. It's like hearing nails on a black board coupled with watching somebody fall over.

14-06-2010 11:53pm

Seriously...wtf is he at..

Aidric · 14-06-2010 11:55pm

That's a fairly damning indictment of Kenny if what Sheehan just said is true.

RonMexico · 14-06-2010 11:55pm

snow ghost wrote: »

What an embarassment on Vincent Browne - Bruton giggling away like a little child after being put on the ropes by Browne.

Does this Muppet Bruton honestly think he offers a viable alternative as a leader? He has no charisma, no credibility and no integrity as for him being a leader, that is just ridiculous.

He stabbed his leader in the back when the focus should clearly have been on ousting Cowen et al, and this giggling traitor with nothing to offer is doing more damage to his party than anyone could imagine.

Bruton - a disgraceful weasel.

Rather Bruton showing that he is confident, relaxed, in control and has a sense of humour. All of which Kenny is lacking.

snow ghost · 15-06-2010 12:02am

RonMexico wrote: »

Rather Bruton showing that he is confident, relaxed, in control and has a sense of humour. All of which Kenny is lacking.

Come on... giggling away like school child caught pinching a cookie from the cookie jar doesn't engender any statesmen like qualities in him.

Kenny might be a bit wooden at times, but I believe he has integrity. After Bruton's actions, I believe Bruton he has no integrity and would be unelectable as leader.

Moreover, Bruton gave a weak drivelleing response when Browne asked him what he stood for.

Fianna Fail must be hoping that Bruton does oust Kenny - because it FF's only chance of getting into government after the next election.

Bruton is an absolute disgrace.

Liam Byrne · 15-06-2010 12:06am

The woman at the end of the panel pointed out that Bruton has just given Fianna Fáil and Cowen a lifeline....distracting the media from the real issue.

Browne touched on it, but didn't pursue it.

I hope to god it's not the case, because if so Bruton has just done his country a massive disservice.

nacho libre · 15-06-2010 12:08am

RonMexico wrote: »

Rather Bruton showing that he is confident, relaxed, in control and has a sense of humour. All of which Kenny is lacking.

actually Kenny is known to be quite entertaining company(a good story teller), with a good sense of humour if you meet him in a social setting.
Bruton in the VB interview comes across as sly and childish.
He obviously wants the leadership above the party getting back into power by pulling the rug from under Kenny now. He should have waited at least until the next negative opinion poll as this just smacks of opportunism and it takes the scrutiny off the two damning reports.

15-06-2010 12:09am

nacho libre wrote: »

actually Kenny is known to be quite entertaining company(a good story teller), with a good sense of humour if you meet him in a social setting.
Bruton in the VB interview comes across as sly and childish.
He obviously wants the leadership above the party getting back into power by pulling the rug from under Kenny now. He should have waited at least until the next negative opinion poll as this just smacks of opportunism and it takes the scrutiny off the two damning reports.

The next negative opinion poll could have been a GE.....

SB-08 · 15-06-2010 12:10am

snow ghost wrote: »

What an embarassment on Vincent Browne - Bruton giggling away like a little child after being put on the ropes by Browne.

Does this Muppet Bruton honestly think he offers a viable alternative as a leader? He has no charisma, no credibility and no integrity as for him being a leader, that is just ridiculous.

He stabbed his leader in the back when the focus should clearly have been on ousting Cowen et al, and this giggling traitor with nothing to offer is doing more damage to his party than anyone could imagine.

Bruton - a disgraceful weasel.

He was nervous alright but I thought he handled it well considering it is VB afterall. Had Enda been there instead it wouldve been 100 times worse and I can't see how anyone could seriously think otherwise - watching Enda trying to come accross well in an interview is even more cringeworthy than Gordon Brown - that forced smile Kenny does in particular and his astonishingly poor communication skills, especially on the economy is the main reason why he needs to go and why FG are falling in the polls when they should be miles higher.

Bruton is far from perfect, no Irish politition is even close tbh, but he is on a totally different level in terms of coming accross as being knowledgable about the economy, competent and articulate - three things Enda lacks severly. I don't know about you but I certainly do not want the next leader of the country knowing as little about the economy as Enda Kenny appears to. I mean look at the mess we are in now with Cowen, and he had alot of experience with the economy prior to becoming taoiseach (obviously for the worse as we know too well but at least he had alot of experience in the field). The notion of having a taoiseach with the level of knowledge on the the most important issue - the economy as Enda appears to have is utterly ridiculous. Bruton may not be Obama in terms of communication skills but compared to Kenny he is quite clearly streets ahead and I am more than confident once he takes over we will see a distict rise in the polls for FG as they will no longer have such an utterly laughable leader.

I would love to see Enda on Vincent Browne though - it would make for some superb entertainment - he might even harp on about the now infamous 'CONTRACT' again.;)

RonMexico · 15-06-2010 12:11am

snow ghost wrote: »

Come on... giggling away like school child caught pinching a cookie from the cookie jar doesn't engender any statesmen like qualities in him.

Kenny might be a bit wooden at times, but I believe he has integrity. After Bruton's actions, I believe Bruton he has no integrity and would be unelectable as leader.

Moreover, Bruton gave a weak drivelleing response when Browne asked him what he stood for.

Fianna Fail must be hoping that Bruton does oust Kenny - because it FF's only chance of getting into government after the next election.

Bruton is an absolute disgrace.

For someone that claims to have never voted Fine Gael you sure as hell come across as a Kenny autobot. The reality is that Kenny does not inspire people, is a poor public speaker, has failed to capitalise on the publics outrage at FF and has allowed Gilmore and Joan Brutal to pass them out in the polls. Enda is toast and not soon enough either.

Breezer · 15-06-2010 12:11am

snow ghost wrote: »

Fianna Fail must be hoping that Bruton does oust Kenny - because it FF's only chance of getting into government after the next election.

This is unbelievable. For months if not years, people have said that Enda Kenny is the reason they won't vote for Fine Gael. They have dubbed him Fianna Fáil's secret weapon etc. They have said Richard Bruton is the man, that they would vote for Fine Gael if only Bruton took charge.

Bruton mounts a leadership challenge and all of a sudden Bruton is a traitor, he's going to keep Fianna Fáil in power, if only Enda had stayed, sure look at the Trojan work Enda did for the party...

It reminds me of how we treat Irish football managers to be honest. Maybe Roy Keane should be in charge of Fine Gael. Yes, Keane - now there's a man of substance, conviction; he'd remind you of Richard Bruton (before this afternoon...) :rolleyes:

yahoo_moe · 15-06-2010 12:12am

snow ghost wrote: »

Moreover, Bruton gave a weak drivelleing response when Browne asked him what he stood for.

Same on the Frontline (didn't see VB).

I just can't get my head around the oddness of the whole thing at all - came up with a few different theories about how it links to the confidence vote in Cowen but ultimately discarded them all and concluded that Richard Bruton is just an incredibly egotistical man (and a much poorer politician than I thought).

Foxtrol · 15-06-2010 12:12am

dixiefly wrote: »

Appalling answer by Bruton when asked the obvious question by Browne about the timing just before the no confidence motion in Cowen. He seemed to regard the dail vote as irrelevant ... a pretty inappropriate answer for someone that has aspirations to be Taoiseach.

Bruton needed an opportunity to bring up a leadership race and the polls over the last week gave it to him. I'd say he would have rather it not have been the same week as a no confidence motion but when the opportunity arose he was always going to take it.

Looking at the bigger picture this was the best chance he may ever have of becoming taoiseach. If you assume that the leader of FG will lead a government after the next election and even if they only lasts one term with Kenny in charge it would still be 7 years before there would, in all likelihood, be another leadership race. Even if FG were to take back power at the following election he would probably be waiting an overall of 12 years before having the chance to be taoiseach. Looking at it from that perspective the PR stunt of calling a no confidence vote in the government does seem quite "irrelevant" in his bigger picture.

Liam Byrne · 15-06-2010 12:16am

Foxtrol wrote: »

Looking at it from that perspective the PR stunt of calling a no confidence vote in the government does seem quite "irrelevant" in his bigger picture.

It was hardly a "PR stunt" to represent the people's interests when two reports point out how Cowen screwed the country, now was it ?

Kenny took a chance on Thursday, while FF members were dossing off.

FF blocked it, adding to the perception that they are blocking the democratic process.

If Kenny hadn't tried for it, he wouldn't have been doing his job.

hotmail.com · 15-06-2010 12:16am

If Kenny goes, he'll be quickly forgotten.

eoinbn · 15-06-2010 12:18am

Bruton has always come across as a bit fidgety but there is little doubt that he knows his stuff. The problem with Kenny is that he also doesn't come across well AND that there is questions over his understanding of the issues. These might be ill-founded but it's very much on the minds of people when it comes to deciding who to vote for.

The woman at the end of the panel pointed out that Bruton has just given Fianna Fáil and Cowen a lifeline....distracting the media from the real issue.

When over the last two years hasn't there been a huge issue of the day? When George Lee left the party in Jan/Feb he was also accused of taking the spotlight off the government during a time of crisis- it's just one crisis after another in Ireland Inc. so there will never be a good time.

JonathanAnon · 15-06-2010 12:18am

Could nobody have just got the whip to put around a message saying "No Fianna Gaeler go on any media source until the meeting tomorrow"... Best for FG was for Enda to step aside to deputy leader and remain in the organiser role, and let Bruton take the leadership. This is just a fkn disaster, worse than the George Lee fiasco..

If this is the way that FG go about business, we really should be worried about their competency if they are elected... Though the way they have been consistently shooting themselves in the foot since the last election, I dont think we'll have anything to worry about.

The only winners here are FF (because the two reports condemning their handling of the economy were not discussed in the media this week) and Labour (who will just push further ahead in the polls).

Breezer · 15-06-2010 12:20am

Liam Byrne wrote: »

It was hardly a "PR stunt" to represent the people's interests when two reports point out how Cowen screwed the country, now was it ?

Kenny took a chance on Thursday, while FF members were dossing off.

FF blocked it, adding to the perception that they are blocking the democratic process.

If Kenny hadn't tried for it, he wouldn't have been doing his job.

I agree it's an important part of the democratic process Liam, but it's going to go exactly the same way as every other no confidence motion the Opposition has put down has gone.

Previously, people were decrying Kenny for doing this: "Shure look at him, always moaning and calling for resignations." (Often followed by "That Enda Kenny's useless, put Richard Bruton in charge.") Now all of a sudden this is vital to the country and Bruton shouldn't be disrupting it.

I'm not saying they're wrong, I've defended Kenny for putting them down all along. But I've concluded that the leader (or person likely to become leader) of Fine Gael simply can't win in this country.

Foxtrol · 15-06-2010 12:20am

snow ghost wrote: »

Kenny might be a bit wooden at times, but I believe he has integrity. After Bruton's actions, I believe Bruton he has no integrity and would be unelectable as leader.

Moreover, Bruton gave a weak drivelleing response when Browne asked him what he stood for.

Fianna Fail must be hoping that Bruton does oust Kenny - because it FF's only chance of getting into government after the next election.

Bruton is an absolute disgrace.

That makes no sense. If I was anyone in FF I'd want Kenny to barely win his own "confidence" motion and limp on. Bruton has destroyed all Kenny's credibility and pushed all of his weaknesses into the spotlight. Anyone who wants the government to change need to hope Kenny goes with the least amount of resistance. (That is unless Kenny gets the miraculous support of all of his front bench)

snow ghost · 15-06-2010 12:22am

RonMexico wrote: »

For someone that claims to have never voted Fine Gael you sure as hell come across as a Kenny autobot. The reality is that Kenny does not inspire people, is a poor public speaker, has failed to capitalise on the publics outrage at FF and has allowed Gilmore and Joan Brutal to pass them out in the polls. Enda is toast and not soon enough either.

RonMexico,

I can assure you that I have never voted for Fine Gael in my life, and have no reason to say otherwise.

My main political concern at the moment would be ousting the corrupt regime in government. In that respect, I am disgusted with Bruton for doing this and doing it when a there was a vote of no confidence against Cowen. What the hell was he thinking?

As someone with no allegiance to any Fine Gael representative, I can only say that is how I now perceive Bruton - as a backstabbing traitor.

As someone who would have considered voting for Fine Gael under Kenny, I would never vote for them under Bruton following his actions.

snow ghost · 15-06-2010 12:24am

Foxtrol wrote: »

That makes no sense. If I was anyone in FF I'd want Kenny to barely win his own "confidence" motion and limp on. Bruton has destroyed all Kenny's credibility and pushed all of his weaknesses into the spotlight. Anyone who wants the government to change need to hope Kenny goes with the least amount of resistance. (That is unless Kenny gets the miraculous support of all of his front bench)

Foxtrol,

As I just posted to RonMexico, I am an non-FG voter, who would have voted for them - I wont vote for them under Bruton.

If there are other people like me - that is very benefical to FF.

snow ghost · 15-06-2010 12:27am

yahoo_moe wrote: »

Same on the Frontline (didn't see VB).

I just can't get my head around the oddness of the whole thing at all - came up with a few different theories about how it links to the confidence vote in Cowen but ultimately discarded them all and concluded that Richard Bruton is just an incredibly egotistical man (and a much poorer politician than I thought).

Same as that - he has gone way down in my opinion of him.

Foxtrol · 15-06-2010 12:28am

Liam Byrne wrote: »

It was hardly a "PR stunt" to represent the people's interests when two reports point out how Cowen screwed the country, now was it ?

Kenny took a chance on Thursday, while FF members were dossing off.

FF blocked it, adding to the perception that they are blocking the democratic process.

If Kenny hadn't tried for it, he wouldn't have been doing his job.

I do agree but its hardly a motion that anyone thinks is going to be won so hence I'd class it as one being done for PR purposes.

To try to take the morale high ground and say that Bruton is putting himself before this motion is to say that you actually think that if he'd come out backing Kenny that the motion would have had a chance in hell of passing without FF and Green's getting their voting buttons mixed up again.

Breezer · 15-06-2010 12:28am

snow ghost wrote: »

Foxtrol,

As I just posted to RonMexico, I am an non-FG voter, who would have voted for them - I wont vote for them under Bruton.

If there are other people like me - that is very benefical to FF.

Fair enough snow ghost. But the overwhelming theme of the last few years regarding Fine Gael was how inept Kenny was and how if he only stepped down and allowed Bruton to run the show, people would vote for them. You can check back on this forum, there's probably 50 threads to that effect.

I find it amazing how everybody suddenly loves Enda Kenny today (I'm not directing this at you in particular).

SB-08 · 15-06-2010 12:32am

snow ghost wrote: »

.

As someone who would have considered voting for Fine Gael under Kenny, I would never vote for them under Bruton following his actions.

Thankfully most on the fence voters such as myself are the total opposite. Never in a million years would I have voted for FG under good ole Enda - sure had I been the casting director of Father Ted I'd have given him the job no problem but running the country? Enda? Not a chance. I have been saying for years I would vote for FG if Bruton, someone who actually knows what they are bloody talking about (for the most part anyways) was the leader, as have most people I know including FG voters who had switched to Labour solely due to Kenny's laughable performance in public. All you have to do is watch the Dail each week and Kenny - it takes him about five minutes to say 10 words FFS.:rolleyes:

Do you seriously think the spineless FF will voted against Cowen? Not a chance - they would been too afraid it will lead to an election which will result in them loosing their seats and their large salaries. It is yet another pointless move by Kenny and clearly has no chance of passing. Bruton had no choice but to do this now as Kenny was asking him to publicaly back him - would you rather he just lied like a FF minister would do?

snow ghost · 15-06-2010 12:34am

Breezer wrote: »

Fair enough snow ghost. But the overwhelming theme of the last few years regarding Fine Gael was how inept Kenny was and how if he only stepped down and allowed Bruton to run the show, people would vote for them. You can check back on this forum, there's probably 50 threads to that effect.

I find it amazing how everybody suddenly loves Enda Kenny today (I'm not directing this at you in particular).

Fair point Breezer, perhaps it was the manner in which Bruton did this and his timing - he comes across very badly in my eyes for that.

To do this - and to his own leader and party - when a vote of no confidence was happening against Cowen, is just beyond belief, and for that reason I would not trust him to lead a government now. As he clearly has little cop on.

Foxtrol · 15-06-2010 12:40am

snow ghost wrote: »

Foxtrol,

As I just posted to RonMexico, I am an non-FG voter, who would have voted for them - I wont vote for them under Bruton.

If there are other people like me - that is very benefical to FF.

At this stage (barring the head counts released to the media being wrong) this situation is only going to become more and more beneficial to FF the longer Kenny holds on to his position. FG could come out of this stronger if Kenny falls on his sword (that has been placed there by Bruton) in an attempt to unite the party. It looks at this stage that he has been out maneuvered by Bruton.

InvisibleBadger · 15-06-2010 12:40am

I've been looking at the odds on Paddy Power for next FG leader, and Bruton is way ahead. Hayes and Varadkar are next in order, but Varadkar is only 31. Is Bruton the best candidate in FG? He didn't seem very leaderlike on VB tonight.

Kenny sacks Bruton

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