Not a Cheshire Cat in sight as Fine Gael backs a loser in Cox

The Taoiseach was barely able to disguise his displeasure as Gay Mitchell’s name was read out as the party’s nominee for the presidency.

Mr Kenny wanted Pat Cox, he could have lived with Mairead McGuinness, but he was certainly not glad it was to be Gay.

Mr Kenny looked pensive at the beginning of a joint press conference with the freshly elected nominee and uncharacteristically snapped when asked why he seemed so disappointed at the result, saying: “Am I supposed to be going around grinning like a Cheshire Cat at everything?”

Well, no, that would probably be inappropriate at a funeral, but perhaps a tad more enthusiasm for your party’s standard bearer would be in order on his victory day, Taoiseach?

But some of those around Mr Kenny clearly do believe it is a funeral as they fear Mitchell will bury Fine Gael’s hopes of finally attaining the highest office in the land.

While Mr Kenny was careful not to publicly endorse any of the candidates, his cabal were pushing Progressive Democrats refugee Cox as hard as they could — which makes his embarrassingly distant third-place showing all the more uncomfortable for the leadership.

The actual share of the vote was meant to be kept secret, and at one point Mitchell broke the tingle of tension in the press conference by joking: “I’ll leak it as soon as I can.”

But the figures had already spilled out and the electoral college of some 600 parliamentary party members, councillors and party big cheeses had gone solidly to the Dublin MEP, giving him a 55% share in the run-off with McGuinness.

Though never one to do herself down, McGuinness was trying desperately to turn a negative into a positive as she mused on why she may have lost: “There were lots of suggestions made that I was too young, that I was good at what I do... people say all sorts of things.” Hmm...

Cox was generally regarded as giving the best speech and McGuinness the weakest of the three at the selection convention, with Gay somewhere in the middle. He delivered an address which failed to bridge an uneasy juxtaposition bet-ween stressing his humble background and reaching for some kind of messianic, religious tone, at one point announcing: “By giving you receive.”

But his attempt to receive a Barack Obama-style call and response fell awkwardly flat as, rather than answering with a joyous: “Yes, we can”, the mumble from delegates was more like: “Oh, do we really have to?”

The latter stance clearly being closer to Mr Kenny’s view, as party strategists wonder if Mitchell will have much reach outside of Dublin, while his surprise achievement makes the race with Labour’s Michael D Higgins, and probable independent frontrunner David Norris much tighter.

But Enda and the party machine backed a loser in Cox, and all the whispering campaigns and alleged dirty tricks involving leaked poll-ing data all came to nothing as Gay seized the day.

And while his speech was strong on his modest beginnings, noting that the CIÉ site where he started his career could be seen from the Áras, he will have to tone-down the quasi-religious imagery if he hopes to appeal to what is now a highly secular society.

Though Mitchell clearly believes that vengeance is not just the preserve of the Lord as he got a deft little dig into Kenny at the press conference when asked why the Fine Gael hierarchy had been so obviously against him: “We are the hierarchy — the parliamentary party, the executive council and councillors — they reaffirmed themselves today and made a very firm point about who makes decisions.”

It was enough to wipe a smile off the cheeriest of Cheshire Cats’ faces as Enda stared vacantly into the middle distance.

Mitchell has proved himself quite the political scrapper with his late entry into the field and runaway victory against the odds and may well have some further surprises in store later on, but him and Enda really need to start working on that body language pronto.

It all sets things up nicely for a lively campaign in the autumn — Mitchell is Gay by name, Norris happens to be gay by nature, while Higgins just adds to the gaiety of the nation generally.