The PDs’ future - Cannon faces a huge task

THOUGH maybe not quiet as daunting as being made a Wehrmacht field marshal deep in the cold steppes of Stalin’s Soviet Union in, say, 1943, assuming leadership of the Progressive Democrats bring its own challenges.

Senator Ciaran Cannon has already acknowledged this, conceding that the results of next year’s local elections will decide whether the party has a meaningful future or if it is to fade away, becoming no more than a pin-striped, high-horse talking shop for grumpy old conservatives.

Whether the party has the vitality, belief, or indeed unity — it was split 51%:49% between the Cannon and O’Malley camps in the leadership vote — to rejuvenate itself also remains to be seen. The high-profile and immediate ship-jumping after last year’s election suggests this may be the greatest internal challenge it faces.