Little General and Big Phil go to battle
Each has been run by their own tactician and organiser. These two men are considered in the party to be among its most astute political operators.
On the side of the leader, Enda Kenny, is Big Phil Hogan. And his rival, Richard Bruton, is being directed by the Little General Brian Hayes.
In appearance and manner the two are very different. But their appetite for political puppetry is on a par. Mr Hogan, environment spokesman until Tuesday’s mass sacking, has successfully retained his seat since 1989.
He has served as Fine Gael’s director of elections and organisation. And he was chairman of the parliamentary party. He is a forceful character who was responsible for Mr Kenny’s election as party leader when, after falling short in a contest with Richard Bruton, urged his followers to back the Mayo man.
He never holds back. He rolled up his sleeves to take a swipe at the rebel frontbenchers and regularly tears asunder his counterpart Minister John Gormley.
However, many backbenchers also resent the power which Mr Hogan holds in the party.
One the other hand, Mr Hayes appears more like a “cheeky chappy” and can equally cause rancour with the bankbenchers.
The Tallaght deputy has struggled, but succeeded, in carving out a Fine Gael base in an unlikely constituency. In his former education brief, he won friends in the formerly unkind environs of the teachers’ unions.
Mr Hayes is fresh from orchestrating George Lee’s spectacular election from Dublin South Central last year. And he has an enormous stamina for political battles, notably with former education minister Batt O’Keeffe.
But, perhaps in preparation for this week’s coup, he didn’t take the new education minister Mary Coughlan to task.
If Richard Bruton failed, his ambitions would likely see him sneak through the crowd to contest the next leadership race.
