NEWTON'S OPTIC:IT WILL clearly be a major setback for Enda Kenny if he loses the leadership of Fine Gael only a year after stepping down as host of the Late Late Show. However, he does still have The Frontlineand "Today with Enda Kenny" to fall back on while he considers the next stage of his career.
It has always seemed a little odd to those of us who follow Southern politics fairly closely, that the leader of the Opposition is also RTÉ’s highest-paid presenter. On the other hand this is hardly as strange as Silvio Berlusconi's position in Italy. Many figures manage parallel careers in politics and the media, sometimes so successfully that it almost seems as if they are two different people, albeit two people with identical looks, mannerisms and hairstyles.
It is a tribute to Kennys smooth professionalism that not everyone realises the person they often hear on the radio is the same person they rarely hear in the Dáil. But should Kenny’s days in the Dáil be numbered he can take comfort from the fact that he has participated in some of Ireland’s greatest parliamentary exchanges.
Who can forget the interruption from the public gallery last November, when Kenny was berated for discussing social welfare while collecting a huge salary. Or the other interruption from the public gallery in 2006, when he was called “an insufferable arsehole”? Or the 2007 Toy Bill debate, when he called the Taoiseach the “Bee-Shock”?
Many will also remember Kenny’s confrontation with Siptu president Jack O’Connor, when he denied having a “trophy house” because it was built in 1988, demonstrating the gift for bizarre rhetorical irrelevance which has so endeared him to 24 per cent of the electorate.
If Kenny decides to continue in politics there will certainly be a place for him in Brussels after his decade-long stint presenting Eurovision. Fine Gael is the largest Irish party in Europe with four MEPs and douze points.
Alternatively, Kenny may now wish to concentrate on his broadcasting career. Highlights of that career so far include country music show “Mullingar A-Chord”, childrens puppet show “Rainbow Coalition” and his widely-welcomed call for an end to compulsory Irish on Nuacht.
Although Kenny’s performances today are sometimes described as wooden, he was praised for his versatility on “Rainbow Coalition” where he played Whippy the Chief Whip and Trippy the Minister for Tourism and Trade. It is also believed that Kenny would make an excellent game-show host, because he looks exactly like one.
However, Kenny has always been more interested in current affairs than light entertainment so it is undoubtedly The Frontlinethat will be the focus of his renewed efforts. Co-presenters should expect to be fired at a moment's notice.
Named after the market-leading tick and flea treatment for dogs and cats, The Frontlinelets Kenny crush his political opponents like the worthless insects they surely are. With its braying audience and cruel "drop or collar" catchphrase it is the perfect vehicle for the raging bloodlust that has always so plainly lurked beneath his placid surface.
The question now for casual observers of southern politics is whether the Fine Gael leadership will pass to Joan Bruton, wife of Labour leader Richard and sister of former Bee-Shock John.