Who should be the next leader of Fine Gael?

rubensni

2010 has been a disaster for Enda Kenny, but who is there to replace him should a leadership challenge happen?

hallelujajordan

rubensni wrote: »

2010 has been a disaster for Enda Kenny, but who is there to replace him should a leadership challenge happen?

Hardly worth a thread? I doubt you will find anyone who will propose anyone other than Richard Bruton . . an absolute shoe-in !

Rb

Jack Bauer

Sulmac

Richard Bruton, obviously.

rubensni

Personally, I'd like to see Richard Bruton stay in finance as we need someone with a cool head for figures. Coveney is a good communicator and with his experience in Brussels would be good for Council of the EU meetings. Phil Hogan is a level headed chap also.

Sulmac

rubensni wrote: »

Personally, I'd like to see Richard Bruton stay in finance as we need someone with a cool head for figures. Coveney is a good communicator and with his experience in Brussels would be good for Council of the EU meetings. Phil Hogan is a level headed chap also.

I think that's part of the problem, Bruton seems far more charismatic and a better leader than Kenny (at least in public), but he also has a head for numbers and is clearly best suited to Finance, I agree with you there. It's a tricky one.

I suppose he could always be head of the party but not Taoiseach, should the time come.

Biggins

Fergus O'Dowd should also be considered.

rubensni

Sulmac wrote: »

I think that's part of the problem, Bruton seems far more charismatic and a better leader than Kenny (at least in public), but he also has a head for numbers and is clearly best suited to Finance, I agree with you there. It's a tricky one.

I suppose he could always be head of the party but not Taoiseach, should the time come.

Yeah, no offence to Keiran O'Donnell but he's not cute enough for finance. I watched the NAMA committee stage pretty closely and he could easily be fobbed off by Lenihan with ridiculous bs and came across as naive to me. The dept of finance would run rings around him and Richard Bruton seems like the only man to have the political skill and experience to stand up to the "real" government who played Biffo, and to a lesser extent Lenny like a viola.

evercloserunion

If they ever want to actually get into power, Bertie is their only choice.

hmmm

Bruton sounds very shrill when in a debate, he has been minced any time I've seen him on Prime Time. I think he'd be a disaster as a leader, probably good for Finance though.

If FG can't convince Yates to return it would be Varadkar for me, articulate, tough and a break from the past. Haven't heard from Coveney in years, he's landing no punches. O'Dowd is another Kenny media profile in the making - nice guy but not hard enough.

Kaizer Sosa

What's with the Varadkar love-in on boards? I can't understand it at all. He seems to fall to pieces anytime I see him under any particular hard line of questioning. Vincent Browne in particular has made him look like a blubbering fool on a few occasions. I think he would make a terrible leader. I just don't see him as a strong politician at all. Seems to be constantly on the back foot and that's while in an opposition role so would despair if he was Taoiseach.

jhegarty

Is next leader of FF not a pressing question ?

rubensni

jhegarty wrote: »

Is next leader of FF not a pressing question ?

Whomever that is won't be taoiseach for a long time. Biffo isn't going anywhere any time soon and we're 2 years from a general election.

Freiheit

think Enda Kenny today, promising to be 'better informed ' and to' be himself' in the future just sounded ludicrous....Biffo will batter him again in the leaders debate in 2012

Red_Marauder

jhegarty wrote: »

Is next leader of FF not a pressing question ?

Lots of possibility but I'd say Brian Lenihan or Noel Dempsey. Totally exasperating possibilities, but I think the two most likely.

hallelujajordan

Red_Marauder wrote: »

Lots of possibility but I'd say Brian Lenihan or Noel Dempsey. Totally exasperating possibilities, but I think the two most likely.

? ? Lenihan might have been a possibility had he not gotten sick and may still be if he makes a full recovery. . Personally I would think that Dermot Aherne or Michael Martin stand a better chance - and would each make a better leader.

Red_Marauder

hallelujajordan wrote: »

? ? Lenihan might have been a possibility had he not gotten sick and may still be if he makes a full recovery. .

Yeah... so, no change

Personally I would think that Dermot Aherne or Michael Martin stand a better chance - and would each make a better leader.

I think they are both too divisive within the party.

Nobody would say they aren't contenders but personally I think that Dempsey has shown more leadership skills, pragmatism and initiative over the past two and a half years.

stepbar

If varadkar became the next leader of FG, I'd reconsider my support for FG. He's not leadership material IMO.

brianthebard

Freiheit wrote: »

think Enda Kenny today, promising to be 'better informed ' and to' be himself' in the future just sounded ludicrous....Biffo will batter him again in the leaders debate in 2012

Again? Last elections leaders debate was between Kenny and Ahern and was called a draw/damp squid by most neutral observers from what I remember. tbh I have never understood the hate people have for Kenny but as time goes on I become more and more convinced that its a town/country divide. Kenny has done good things for his party, party members all seem happy with his leadership, and just because one inexperienced backbencher decided politics is not his forte does not mean it was a failure of the party leadership. There's a lot of things I don't like about FG or Kenny's policies but the constant petty attacks aren't warranted.

stepbar

Perhaps if Kenny concentrated on being a party leader more than trying to act like a cute hoor from mayo, he'd get more respect outside the party. I think he should leave the cute hoors to the boys from kerry.

Freiheit

I don't hate kenny,nor I suspect do many others, but he expresses himself incredibly badly and to my ears is an awful communicator.....I genuinely feel Bertie battered him in 2007 and I've no party alliegance. There's no hate or malice, he just seems ill equipped to run a country.

stepbar

Red_Marauder wrote: »

Yeah... so, no change
I think they are both too divisive within the party.

Nobody would say they aren't contenders but personally I think that Dempsey has shown more leadership skills, pragmatism and initiative over the past two and a half years.

Leading from another country (aka Malta) doesn't count.....

brianthebard

stepbar wrote: »

Perhaps if Kenny concentrated on being a party leader more than trying to act like a cute hoor from mayo, he'd get more respect outside the party. I think he should leave the cute hoors to the boys from kerry.

Thank you for proving my point. Your dislike for Kenny is not based on any policy and is instead based on a feature of his background over which he has no control. Bravo.

Mr.Micro

Enda Kenny seems like a nice enough man but he has not cut it as a leader of the largest opposition party and he lacks charisma. FG just sit back and think that they have already won the next election because of what the current shower have done to our economy. The FG party at the minute is inert and it could not cut butter. Enda should recognize that he should step down now gracefully and let someone a bit more voracious take the job before the next election.

stepbar

brianthebard wrote: »

Thank you for proving my point. Your dislike for Kenny is not based on any policy and is instead based on a feature of his background over which he has no control. Bravo.

It is generally accepted that when someone communicates the following points hold:

Words (the literal meaning) account for 7% of the overall message
Tone of voice accounts for 38% of the overall message
Body Language accounts for 55% of the overall message

Now considering that 7% makes up the words given across, I'd think it's fairly important that anyone delivering a message concentrates on the soft side of the message. How many times have you been in a lecture and thought "This guy or girl is talking a load of sh1te?". It's not because of what they have to say but how they present it.

BTW, I support FG primarily because "my background" is steeped in family allegiances to the party. I'm from the country as well. Kenny doesn't need to come across as a smug, cute hoor from Mayo. Whilst I agree that Kenny has done untold work within the party to bring people together; it's not going to be enough to encourage the mass public in his quest to become leader of the country.

picpress

Freiheit wrote: »

think Enda Kenny today, promising to be 'better informed ' and to' be himself' in the future just sounded ludicrous....

If he has'nt been himself before now one wonders who exactly has he been up to now?

Ivan Yeats the leader FG missed out on IMO

Red_Marauder

Freiheit wrote: »

Biffo will batter him again in the leaders debate in 2012

Brian Cowen has never run in a General Election as leader and has never engaged in a leader's debate on that level either.

Red_Marauder

stepbar wrote: »

Words (the literal meaning) account for 7% of the overall message
Tone of voice accounts for 38% of the overall message
Body Language accounts for 55% of the overall message

Eh you do know that this Mehrabian rule applies to face to face communicationa and not public address?

And that it is based on emotional communications not the delivery of fact or statistics, so not applicable to a political speech? It's more applicable to an informal conversation over coffee.

Mehrabian himself is a strong public critic of people who peddle his research erroneously like you have done here.

stepbar

Well done on your selective quoting there.... but you missed a bit...

It is generally accepted that when someone communicates the following points hold:.......

.........I'd think it's fairly important that anyone delivering a message concentrates on the soft side of the message. How many times have you been in a lecture and thought "This guy or girl is talking a load of sh1te?". It's not because of what they have to say but how they present it.

Now, if you want to start another thread arguing the percentages, by all means fire ahead. The point remains that communication is more about a person's non-verbal actions than anything they've got to say. It's a fallacy even trying to argue that.

Choke

brianthebard wrote: »

Again? Last elections leaders debate was between Kenny and Ahern and was called a draw/damp squid by most neutral observers from what I remember. tbh I have never understood the hate people have for Kenny but as time goes on I become more and more convinced that its a town/country divide. Kenny has done good things for his party, party members all seem happy with his leadership, and just because one inexperienced backbencher decided politics is not his forte does not mean it was a failure of the party leadership. There's a lot of things I don't like about FG or Kenny's policies but the constant petty attacks aren't warranted.

Don't forget about Deasy and Creighton - two other rebels against Kenny.

peasant

Red_Marauder wrote: »

Dempsey ... leadership skills, pragmatism and initiative

I like your sense of irony