Brian has always had his eyes on the bigger prize

Brian Crowley doesn’t do controversy. He stays out of political fray. There are few issues, policies or positions that he’s associated with.

In many ways, few people really know his platform. While he is described as very conservative on social issues, he concealed this well during election campaigns. And 180,000 — more than a third of the electorate in Ireland South — gave him their first preference vote in last month’s European elections.

“He attends the garden fêtes and he smiles, he’s not a serious politician,” said one Fianna Fáil colleague, clearly annoyed about the headache he has caused for the party in recent days.

“He has been a relatively distant member of the parliamentary party, he has never really participated in think-ins or policy formation,” they said.

Yet for all his distance and pleasantness, the five-time poll topper has never been afraid of leaving a trail of controversy for the party hierarchy to deal with.

In the 2004 elections, headquarters ordered him to carve up Munster and seek first preference votes in Cork only, leaving Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford to running mate Gerry Collins. Crowley was having none of it and publicly spoke out about the strategy. And while Collins lost his seat, Crowley went on to top the poll.

When he pulled out of a bid for the presidency in August 2011 he left a number of questions hanging over Micheál Martin that marked an early setback in his leadership.

Not only did he state the party was “divided” — which it was — on the question of whether to run a candidate, he subtly undermined Mr Martin’s approach to rebuilding the party.

“If you are a political party, if you are serious about being a serious national movement, you should be fighting elections,” he said.

He made comments at the time that hint at the agenda behind his actions in recent days: “In every election I always out-poll the party percentage, so there are other people who like what I stand for and represent,” he said.

Mr Crowley — who entered politics as a senator under Albert Reynolds and has served as an MEP for more than 20 years — has made no secret of the fact that his eyes are on the bigger prize.

And some believe he has acted to detach himself from what is, if not toxic, then at least a tainted brand, in his effort to pursue a place in the Áras which he feels he was denied by his party leader three years ago.

“It’s the ultimate way to show a level of dislocation from the party. It’s part of his strategy to hoodwink the public, to say: ‘I’m Fianna Fáil and not really Fianna Fáil at all,’” said one senior party source.

Some suggested yesterday that he could seek a presidency bid as an independent candidate. Others close to him claim that he could still get the Fianna Fáil nomination.

Crowley would have known that moving from his party’s chosen group in the European Parliament to the Eurosceptic group would put him outside the fold, and was warned by Micheál Martin that there would be consequences.

But he went ahead, resulting in a statement from the party yesterday that due to his “unilateral decision” he has “removed himself from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party”.

Some, including former deputy leader, Eamon Ó Cuív, would-be successor to Mr Martin, Michael McGrath and Kerry-based Senator Mark Daly, said he was denied due process.

Mr Crowley is in hospital and they argued he should be allowed time to recover and defend himself.

“The motion was not circulated in advance of the parliamentary party meeting. You can’t just arrive in and say ‘do the following’ and that’s what Micheál Martin did,” said one person at the meeting.

“Questions are now being raised as to whether that statement saying he is removed is actually valid, because due process was not followed,” they said.

Fianna Fáil has lost its biggest vote getter. “Are we really any worse than we were last week, when we had somebody who was a relatively distant member?” one TD asked.