Reports Rabbitte Resigning As Lab Leader

Radio Mad.

I've just heard Q102 say in their 1pm news bulletin that Pat Rabbitte's stepping down as Labour leader this afternoon. The story hasn't appeared anywhere else.
Anyone else hear anything?

D. Coughlan

Sorry, i put up a different thread, we did it at the same time, i put up a link to politics.ie

ateam

There ya go: http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0823/labour.html

Gobán Saor

From http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0823/labour.html

Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte is due to make a major announcement this afternoon.

A press conference will be held at 3.30pm where it is expected that he will announce his resignation as Labour Party leader.

More to follow.

He will be remembered for his unfulfilled potential.

Gobán Saor

Prediction: Willie Penrose to be next leader. Poll-topper, defying the national trend, well in with the trade unions, acceptable to both "old" Labour AND the stickies-come-lately. Back him now while the odds are long:D

ateam

I think Rabbitte was a good and popular leader of the party. I don't think it was his fault the party didn't perform well in the election, although they did perform consistently as with other elections. The party itself is in dire need of change.

is_that_so

Whoever it is , they need some new blood, a new direction and some youth badly . Sorry to see him go if it is true but perhaps he has seen the writing on the wall. He is certainly one of the most able politicians we have but I suspect it may also mean that he will probably step down the next time out.

The_Minister

It was simply a matter of jumping before he was pushed. Old Labour and Labour Youth were sick of him, and he had allegedly offended many people within the party by being arrogant.
I had quite a bit of respect for him though.

seamus

Pity. I can see Labour losing a lot of seats in the next GE. Ruairi Quinn is the only man who could replace Rabbitte, but I don't think he's going to go back there.

spank_inferno

Lady Wicklow aka Liz Mcmanus would be fav to win the ledership election.
Though I'm not a labour person, so I cant say for sure.
Is she popular enough within the party to win?

mickd

The_Minister wrote:

It was simply a matter of jumping before he was pushed. Old Labour and Labour Youth were sick of him, and he had allegedly offended many people within the party by being arrogant.
I had quite a bit of respect for him though.

Nail on the head!! people don't like being lectured at.

Talking about Eamonn Gilmore and Morticia Addams aka Joan Burton as the next leader

ateam

I can't see any potential leader that will galvanize the party and indeed the country. Mcmanus, Burton, Gilmore, Shortail would damage the party because of their unpopularity and incompetence. The only suitable candidate is Brendan Howlin, but even he has issues with popularity.

Just heard Michael D. Higgins on Newstalk saying that Labour doesn't need a rebranding. What planet is he on?

FTA69

What about Howlin? I thought Rabbite was a bit of a langer to be honest. I haven't a clue what's going on in Ireland anymore...

Jackie laughlin

Michael D. is right. What we need is political argument, not marketing.

Colonel Sanders

FTA69 wrote:

What about Howlin?

Didn't issues about his personal life crop up during the last leadership battle (which he denied)? Will this be a factor again?

nesf

Jackie laughlin wrote:

Michael D. is right. What we need is political argument, not marketing.

There's a difference?

ateam

Colonel Sanders wrote:

Didn't issues about his personal life crop up during the last leadership battle (which he denied)? Will this be a factor again?

I don't think so. Usually the personal and marital lives of Irish politicians isn't reported. 5 years has elapsed also, I can't see it being an issue. He's really the only practical leader at the moment in the Labour party, apart from Rabbitte.

E92

Howlin can't be leader(or even try to be leader) of the Labour Party(thankfully) while he is the Leas Ceann Chomhairle.

I could write a thesis about the problems Labour have.

Suffice to say that blaming Fine Gael for their woes is deluisonary. We didn't blame Labour when we got 31 seats in the General Election of 2002, did we?
No, the problem for us in Fine Gael was that we didnt know what we wanted and we displayed a complete inability to convince the electorate that what we could offer them would make their lives better. We didnt go blaming others, even though our critics would tell you otherwise.

Labour seem to be like Sinn Fein, keen to find problems with everyone and everything, so long as its not them.

Any party that has the divisions that Labour has within it no matter what they do to mask it is not going to convince the electorate that they can be put into Government.

In any case, if us Blueshirts must be blamed for their woes, nobody in Fine Gael told them to back the Mullingar Accord by a Ratio of 4 to 1 in their Tralee conference some time ago.

I love the way that Fine Gael is blamed for not getting into Government(by Labour usually), in spite of the fact that we were the only party that increased its Dáil Representation. Labour on the other hand lost a seat, the Greens remained static.

If Labour want to have even the faintest hope of increasing their Dáil representation ever again, they could do better than blame Fine Gael, annoy Fine Gael people and make sure that the Blueshirts wont transfer(I certainly would not transfer to them, especially when they start doing pacts with the Shinners(senate Elections), though to be fair, I don't think Pat Rabbitte would do it on his own, I reckon he was forced to do it), and get up off their arseand stop picking daiseys and do something productive, like perhaps everybody could be united for once as a minimum? Labour seem to have such an enormous problem doing such a basic task, is it no wonder that they can't convince people to vote for them when they cant even get on with themselves.

Certain Labour people leave a lot to be desired, during the period after the Mullingar Accord to the Election. They never wanted it to happen, and they have now sucessfully ensured that through todays very unfortunate announcement, that 'somebody' was brought to JUstice. Unfortunately the peron brough to Justice was the wrong person.

When you had fools like Brendan Howlin making very public comments (and others, but he was the worst) and certain parts of the Labour party(Labour Youth in particular) making very public comments about their distaste for Fine Gael and the strategy Pat Rabbitte took being broadcast on national airwaves, naturally people will end up thinking will I or won't I vote for them, and it is very hard to vote for a crowd if they cant even get that much right.

Part of the reason why Fine Gael hasn't always done as well as it could in the pastis because of the in fighting that went on, like when they got rid of John Bruton, he didnt go because he felt like it.

nesf

I don't think anyone is actually blaming FG for Labour's "bad" result. Labour made their own bed etc.

lucernarian

I can't see what FG did so well which caused them to gain 20 seats, and Labour so poorly to cause them to loose one.

Labour and Pat Rabbite were a bit unlucky to be faced with that situation. Still, he was correct in leaving. They might be better off standing as the left wing and liberal voice of the dáil, rather than trying to coalesce with Fine Gael in the future.

E92, that post contained some amount of waffle. Get off that high horse for a minute and look where Fine Gael were blamed for Labour's loss of a seat. It was Labour's fault that FG gained so much more than they did.

There was nothing stopping Labour from making the gains on FG's back. I wonder what would you would be saying if Fine Gael lost the seat?


Did anyone see Pat Magnier last night on Primetime?? He didn't hide his support for Brian Howlin too much. And it was abundantly clear that he did not agree with the electoral strategy of 2007. Not the thing to go about saying on the night your leader resigns...

Jackie laughlin

Nesf,
Yes there is and it is essential that Labour understand that.

It is quite natural for two parties in coalition to find their partnership distateful. If this were not the case, they could combine.

Democracy is rough and full of argument.