Support for Bruton meant Flanagan had to bide his time

In all likelihood, Charlie Flanagan would have been seated around the Cabinet table since March 2011 had he not backed Richard Bruton during the ill-fated leadership heave of 2010.

At the time, he had a strong Fine Gael pedigree and a frontbench portfolio. When the coup started, he initially bit his tongue. But after remaining silent for three days, he proclaimed his support for Bruton with the ultimately misguided assertion that there had been a “decisive shift in the situation”.

The Laois-Offaly deputy was fortunate to retain a portfolio with the subsequent purge. But his high-profile justice brief was handed to Alan Shatter and he instead got to mark the junior minister at the Department of Children.