Kenny must radicalise politics to succeed

Enda Kenny has stamina and drive, but needs to move past the passé narrative and keep recreating momentum, writes Gerard Howlin

Enda Kenny: Fine Gael has been his field of play throughout his career, but he must now define and differentiate his leadership on the national stage.

NO Taoiseach served longer than Enda Kenny as a TD before attaining the highest political office and no Taoiseach had less previous experience at cabinet. Kenny outlasted his rivals and confounded his critics to win the prize. A man whose stamina and capacity were underestimated, Kenny’s training was in the school of hard knocks, not high office. After his long apprenticeship, he is clearly enjoying his date with destiny.

The key to that least-defined of all political roles, the job of head of government, is energy, acumen and a real sense of what you want to achieve. There is no CV that qualifies you. Neither David Cameron nor Tony Blair had any cabinet experience before becoming prime minister. Whether the object of praise or blame, there is now no way back for Enda Kenny on the high wire of history.

The Fine Gael website describes its leader, perhaps a little immodestly, as having climbed Croagh Patrick over 100 times and Kilimanjaro for charity. He played for, managed and coached his local Gaelic football team, Islandeady. Perhaps unknowingly, the party set out a key attribute of a Taoiseach, and that is extraordinary physical stamina. The demands of the office on the man, and there has never been a woman, are punishing. It is a multiple of the pressure on any political colleague. The roles of most ministers are reasonably well defined by their department. The spotlight, when it comes, usually moves on. A Taoiseach, however, has no respite. Every issue is potentially his issue. Every day puts him at the centre of events.

The flow of paper on to the Taoiseach’s desk is huge. In a given week he will have to chair a cabinet meeting and possibly one or more cabinet sub-committees. If the Dáil is sitting he will have to take Leaders’ Question on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the subject matter of which there is no advance notice. For every question the Taoiseach answers from one of the other party leaders, he has very likely prepared for at least half a dozen others.

Running fast enough to stand still, to keep abreast of continuing demands, takes a Taoiseach the equivalent of the average working week. That, however, is the point at which the real work begins.

What will define Kenny’s reputation is his capacity not just to deal with the unending pressure of routine business but to set an agenda and to deliver it. On the outside, the Government looks like a large and largely cohesive entity. Inside, it is the equivalent of Swiss cheese, endlessly mined by different agendas and interests. Ultimately, it is the Taoiseach’s role to hold the centre and to cajole and browbeat the rest along. In a public service defined by security of tenure, and a political system where every politician enjoys their own mandate, rule by decree is seldom as possible as it may be tempting. It is an alchemy of charm, cunning and menace that gets things done within the Government. And, in general, menace should be sparingly applied.

An irony of Kenny’s decisive election victory, the greatest in Fine Gael’s history, is that in government his party has continued not only the policies but the partisanship of which it accused its predecessor. Fine Gael may have become a much larger party but it is not a much different one. Its historical experience, and probably Kenny’s own temperament, lend it to being a heedful partner for Labour in coalition. It appears, however, to overlook the fact that its own enlarged electoral base is itself a coalition. It was not core Fine Gael values that won a landslide victory. Gay Mitchell’s presidential campaign proved that. Reliance on a passé and partisan party narrative will not hold the hordes of Fianna Fáil refugees in the Fine Gael camp.

Enda Kenny has not realised a historical but a passing chance for Fine Gael to become the natural party of government for a generation. His achievement is that he now dominates the political landscape. His failure may prove to be that he is not re-imagining it.

This is the core of the Taoiseach’s role. He must create and continually recreate political momentum. He must move the political spheres in concert and speak authoritatively through the din of unasked for advice.

The challenges facing the government are mounting. A possible EU referendum, a children’s referendum, a constitutional convention and a succession of austerity budgets will all require broad support. The Taoiseach’s personal popularity, his physical stamina and his undoubted determination will not suffice and his popularity at least may not last.

Any taoiseach who is not winning is losing. For decades, Fine Gael has been Enda Kenny’s field of play. A successful taoiseach, however, must play successfully on the national stage and be a national leader. This will be the litmus test of his reputation.

* Gerard Howlin is a public affairs professional and was a senior adviser to Fianna Fáil-led governments from 1997 to 2007