FG FRONT BENCH:FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny announced he was suspending the front bench at a meeting of the group yesterday.
He said he would appoint a new frontbench early next week, following tomorrow’s parliamentary party meeting at which a vote of confidence in his leadership would be heard.
Mr Kenny addressed the frontbench meeting for about 20 minutes, during which he outlined the reasons he sacked deputy leader Richard Bruton the previous day.
He also made harsh criticisms of Mr Bruton’s performance, contending that he had not made himself available in the media to defend the party and support its policies.
Mr Kenny also asserted that a small group within the party had been conspiring against the leadership for a considerable time.
In a statement, Mr Kenny said that he looked forward to every one of the 69 Fine Gael parliamentarians having their say at tomorrow’s meeting.
“That forum is the only forum to decide on the leadership of the party,” he said.
“I look forward to leading the party into the next election.”
Mr Kenny’s decision to end the frontbench meeting came as a surprise to his colleagues, some of whom protested with cries of “unfair”.
The meeting ended in some commotion.
Mr Kenny left the room accompanied by supporters Phil Hogan, Paul Kehoe, Senator Frances Fitzgerald and James Reilly.
The party’s foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins followed him down the corridor and insisted on talking to Mr Kenny in his office.
Their private conversation lasted for 20 minutes.
After the meeting, Mr Hogan told reporters that Mr Bruton had had the knives out for Kenny for quite some time.
“At a time when Fianna Fáil was never as low in the polls, were never as much on the rack and Brian Cowen with a motion of no confidence being proposed by Fine Gael, it’s embarrassing.
“It certainly shows the political misjudgment and naivety of the individuals concerned and of course Enda Kenny is angry about it and the vast majority of the members of the Fine Gael party around the country want to know is it a bad dream.”
Most members of the dissenting group met at the Green Isle Hotel in Clondalkin in Dublin early yesterday morning to discuss the situation. They were briefed by Mr Bruton about how events had unfolded over the weekend. They also discussed tactics in relation to the shadow cabinet meeting.
Following the sudden ending of the frontbench meeting, the nine dissenting spokespeople convened in the office of one TD and decided to make a joint statement.
At lunchtime, the party’s justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan, who publicly declared his support for Mr Kenny at the weekend, refused to comment on how he intended to vote tomorrow.
This added to speculation that he may have switched his allegiance since the weekend.
Another frontbench member, Alan Shatter, reaffirmed his backing for Mr Kenny, as did Michael Ring and Jimmy Deenihan.
Yesterday all four of the party’s MEPs – Mairéad McGuinness, Jim Higgins, Gay Mitchell and Seán Kelly – pledged their support for Mr Kenny.