Dumping party leaders is merely an exercise of democracy in action

FIANNA Fáil has essentially ousted its last five party leaders while serving Taoisigh. Recently, Vincent Browne was asking on TV3 whether this is indicative of something radically wrong within Fianna Fáil.

All seven Fianna Fáil leaders have left in midstream as Taoisigh with unfinished mandates. Éamon de Valera led the party to an overall majority in 1957 but he stepped down after two years as he was being encouraged to run for the Presidency. It was not a heave; he was just gently nudged. He had undoubtedly passed his political “sell-by date,” but he was so revered as the party’s founder, that he was left go in his own time. On reflection, however, there was little doubt that history has regretted that he did not go earlier in order to give to Seán Lemass more time as Taoiseach.

Although many regard Lemass as having been the best Taoiseach ever, he never had the luxury of an overall majority during his tenure. In 1965 Fianna Fáil missed by the narrowest of margins, winning 72 of the 144 seats.

He then stepped down the following year, but in his case there were no calls within Fianna Fáil for him to go. The only criticism was from his main party critic, Seán MacEntee, who attacked him for jumping ship too early. Lemass was one of those rare politicians who actually stepped out at the top while still popular. Most political careers end in failure.

Jack Lynch had the distinction of taking charge of the minority administration in 1966 and turning it into a majority government when Fianna Fáil won the second of five successive by-elections within little over a year. He went on to retain power with an overall majority in the general election of 1969.

Lynch — the only party leader other than Éamon de Valera to enjoy an overall majority as Taoiseach— had the distinction of leading three majority governments within 10 years. He also led Fianna Fáil to its largest majority ever in 1977. Nevertheless two-and-a-half-years later, vying factions within the party essentially pushed him out of office early.

Supporters of Charles Haughey are usually blamed for the heave against Lynch after Fianna Fáil lost two by-elections in Cork in November 1979, but in reality it was one of Haughey’s opponents who persuaded the Taoiseach to go early in the mistaken belief that they would essentially catch Haughey by surprise. Lynch, who personally planned to go in January 1980, had told his wife and Martin O’Donoghue, but the latter then persuaded him to step down a month early.

The Taoiseach announced his intention to resign on December 5, 1979 and called the leadership election for two days later. But Haughey was ready; he was waiting for the moment for over a decade. It was his opponents within the party who outsmarted themselves.

After a number of unsuccessful heaves, Haughey announced his decision to step down in January 1992, less than two months after he had survived the latest heave. Albert Reynolds lasted less than three years. He stepped down as party leader in November 1994 after bringing down his second coalition government in a row. He had first upended his coalition with the Progressive Democrats in November 1992 by questioning the veracity of the PD leader’s testimony at the Beef Tribunal, and he then brought down his next coalition with the Labour Party by ramming through the appointment of Attorney General Harry Whelehan as President of the High Court without the approval of his Labour colleagues.

Bertie Ahern stepped down early in May 2008 as his colleagues were essentially circling to get rid of him, and Brian Cowen became the latest leader of the party to be forced out of office, within a couple of days of surviving his own confidence motion.

Ousting the leader is not just a Fianna Fáil thing. Only recently, critics were accusing Fine Gael of being in danger of being viewed a serial deposer of its own leaders. Three of the last four Fine Gael leaders — Alan Dukes, John Bruton and Michael Noonan — have been unceremoniously removed. Dukes had the distinction of leading the party to a 10-seat gain in 1989 general election, which was the largest gain by any party, but he was ousted the following year.

In the 1992 general election Fine Gael lost 10 seats and John Bruton was lucky to survive long enough to become Taoiseach after Reynolds politically topped himself. Following a successful stint as Taoiseach, Bruton then led Fine Gael to gain nine seats in 1997, but he was ousted in 2001 due to fears that the party would lose ground in forthcoming general election. Yet under Michael Noonan the party lost a staggering 23 seats in 2002, and he resigned on the night of that general election disaster. Under the current party leader, Enda Kenny, Fine Gael gained 20 seats in the last general election, but he has been hanging on by his fingernails ever since.

Chopping and changing leaders is obviously not confined to Fianna Fáil. In fact, it is not even confined to this country. The same thing has been happening in Britain, which was largely the model for our system. Since the 1950s the British have pushed many of their leaders. Winston Churchill was essentially forced to step down in 1955 after suffering a series of strokes. Within a couple of years his successor Anthony Eden stepped down in the wake of his disastrous handling of the Suez Crisis, while his successor Harold Macmillan went in 1963 as a result of the Profumo sex scandal.

Harold Wilson was the most successful leader of the British Labour Party during the 20th Century. He contested five general elections as party leader and won no less than four of them. His leadership was the object of numerous conspiracies especially from the security community, which suspected him of being a Soviet spy. There were allegations that he was bugged by MI5 throughout his time in office. Under pressure he stepped down in 1976, reportedly on health grounds.

Margaret Thatcher became British prime minister in May 1979 but she was never really accepted by elements of the Conservative Party after she deposed former Prime Minister Edward Heath. After winning three consecutive general elections, she was opposed in an internal party heave in 1989. She survived that heave, only to be challenged again in 1990, this time by Michael Heseltine. Although she won the first ballot, he received enough votes to force a second ballot, and she promptly resigned. Critics said that Thatcher had to go, because of a dismal favourable rating in a public poll. She was at on 40%, but Brian Cowen was down at 8% in December. Yet he won a decisive confidence vote in Fianna Fáil last week.

Tony Blair, who became British prime minister in 1997, led his party to three successive general election victories. In the process he became his party’s the longest-serving prime minister, but he was still essentially compelled to step down in 2007. Instead of being concerned about political instability, we should really be thankful. In too many countries popular leaders have installed themselves as dictators and tried to stay on for life. What we have actually been witnessing is democracy in action.