This political demise will take some beating

ALL political careers end in failure, according to the cliché, but even so, Brian Cowen’s gradual but now certain demise will take some beating.

Just as the economy went from boom to bust, so too did Mr Cowen — from the aggressive, capable politician who was widely credited with rescuing Fianna Fáil in the 2007 general election, to the man under whose watch the country slid into an international bailout.

His party is on the brink of electoral catastrophe as a result, and the snap judgment on Mr Cowen will be that he was the worst Taoiseach in recent history and the worst leader of Fianna Fáil too.