Irish PM in party leadership crisis

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen fought for his political life yesterday after his foreign minister announced he would vote against him in a snap party leadership election.

But while Foreign Minister Micheal Martin’s challenge raised the stakes for Mr Cowen, the government’s chief whip predicted that the revolt against the prime minister would fizzle out and Mr Martin received little support in the press.

Mr Cowen’s allies were spending the day ensuring support for today’s confidence ballot following days of speculation about his position.

After stinging criticism over his handling of an ongoing economic crisis, Mr Cowen announced on Sunday that he would stay on as leader of the Fianna Fail party, which governs in a coalition, and challenged his critics to back him or sack him in the secret vote of 71 Fianna Fail lawmakers.

Just hours later, Mr Martin, seen as one of Mr Cowen’s main challengers for the party leadership, said he would vote against him.

On a day of drama, Mr Martin also offered his resignation – only to then agree to stay on at Cowen’s request.

But the government’s chief whip John Curran said he did not know of any minister who had thrown their weight behind Mr Martin.

“A number have publicly already backed Brian Cowen but I haven’t heard of any other minister backing Micheal Martin at this time,” he told RTE state radio yesterday.

“That vote will be the end of the matter quite clearly.

“People have not put forward a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach despite the fact that the leadership issue has come up from time to time.

“If he wins, and I believe he will, it is a question that the members of the parliamentary party believe that he is the best person to lead this country over the next number of weeks into the general election and he is the best person to lead Fianna Fail into the general election.”

Mr Cowen and his party’s popularity have slumped after a deep financial crisis forced Dublin to accept a bailout to which the International Monetary Fund and European Union will contribute €67 billion.

The crisis in Fianna Fail, the main party in the governing coalition with the Greens, came to a head in recent days after revelations emerged in a new book about Mr Cowen’s links to a disgraced bank boss.

Mr Martin said on Sunday Fianna Fail’s “very survival” was at stake, adding he had told the prime minister that the centrist party needed a new leader before a general election expected to take place in March.

“Having talked to most members of the parliamentary party and many members of the party across the country, I believe this is a widely held view,” he said.

The election will be called after the finance bill, which implements the bailout, is passed by lawmakers. That could be completed by the end of February.

After consulting colleagues, Mr Cowen faced down his critics on Sunday and insisted he would stay as leader.

“I believe this to be in the best interest of the stability of the government, the country and our party,” he said.

Pressure increased dramatically on Cowen after it was revealed he had had contacts with Sean FitzPatrick, the bankrupt former boss of Anglo Irish Bank.

This revived suspicions that Fianna Fail – which has dominated Irish politics for decades – was uncomfortably close to the people who have taken much of the blame for the financial crisis.