George Lee resigns from Fine Gael and as a TD

[MPB]

This is how a British political party would utilize the skills of an expert, in this case ,Alan Sugar ...

Sir Alan Sugar appointed to give the Government some business nouse - Times Online

It seems in this country , Sir Alan would first have to dick around in uni politics , kiss a lot of asses , tow the line , then maybe after five years he would be 'allowed' to contribute .

Yeh, Sugar is doing a great job. Britain has been thriving since his appointment.

[KATHY]

A sharp and unfortunate end to a promising career. Very few political careers blossom without the requisite amount of hard work, luck, timing and patience.

Personally, I'd have had a lot more respect for this decision had it come after a greater period of time. To me it appears that he didnt give it as much as he could or indeed should have.

Spot on, by jumping ship so early he let himself down badly and to be honest it sound like FG are better off without such an ego maniac maverick. He just wasnt prepared to put in the effort

[toxic avenger]

test

I don't think so, I don't think he's testing them. I think he's serious and that it's permanent. Unless you're referring to Fine Gael themselves and Enda Kenny's position, in which case you're right, it will be, perhaps even a make or break test.

[Edo]

I have to agree with you, after initially admiring Lee, I now see him in a different light altogether, it really is cringing. You know I think Kenny might actually come out of this with his leadership in tact. Lee rather than Kenny will be the target of FG anger, which is the way it should be. When the dust settles George will feel a proper eejit, it could even affect his long term career in broadcasting, his judgement has been very poor, and I think his whole body language tonight, his ebullience gone, conveys regret and 'oh God what have I done'

Kind of agree with you there Westy

what a day.

When I first heard of this afternoon from the branch secretary in the hysterics on the phone at 1 - my first reaction was to drop kick my coffee cup into the compost heap and curse Kenny and the leadership from a height and just contemplate the world of ******************** we had entered.

If George had just done the 1 O'Clock news and had left it at that - Kenny would be past the point of no return tonight.

Instead he went on and on the whole day and night to anybody who would give him media space - allowed himself to be torn to shreds - "well what input would you have given if you'd had the chance - err, em........" , its not me - its the institutions etc etc etc - he has crashed and burned - Kenny - as I said earlier after watching Lee on Six one - is actually possibly going to come out of this ok - its crazy - but by just issuing a simple statement and keeping a dignified silence - he's actually done the right thing for the first time in ages and let George off on a massive suicidal dive into ?...........

That said - FG have been massively damaged over this - no question - the next few weeks and the Ard-fheis are going to be very interesting - we'll see what happens when the dust settles - but George might have done us a massive favour - we're going to have to work to get into government at the next election for now on - its gonna be uphill the whole way now - with or without Enda - I had been quietly fuming at the free-wheeling since the Locals last year - thats gonna end now - about time.

As regards George - Yeah Im sore - I took time out from canvassing down here in the country to go and do 2 nights canvassing for him - never met him - and I know the FG organisation pulled out the stops for him - there were teams from all over the place up there shedding shoe-leather for him big time and covered every inch of Dublin south and thats the organisation that Enda built.... - yeah Im sore and Im sure Im not the only one.

FG is not perfect by any means - there is so much work and change that needs to be happening there - its scary - but the same could be applied to FF,Lab,SF etc etc in their own ways. I want to see a lot of those institutional changes that George went on about tonite - me and thousands of other FG members - but I've been slowly chipping away for 4-5 years now and after earning my stripes and doing my duty - respect is not a given - its earned - Im slowly getting into a position of influence at a lower level and in a position to try and influence, cajol,manipulate,flatter people into seeing what Im seeing - its one person at a time, one day a time, Im a baby steps man - change may come slowly - but its permanent change - politics may be about ideas - but at the end of the day - its about people - period.

I feel George didn't even give us a chance - 9 months - over 80% of the membership never met the guy - I was kinda looking forward to the Ard-fheis to finally getting a chance meet the guy - break bread with him and find out how things were going for him etc etc - the parliamentary party is only one pillar of the FG organisation - George could have built a proper powerbase for himself among the back room guys and girls and the constituency activists and membership that would have given him the influence he wanted in economic policy without any problem - thats actually where the real power in the party is - because they are the people who fund the party and keep it alive - but he gave us all the 2 fingers today without even meeting the majority of us -

Im really pissed off with that - because in every party there are the conservatives , the radicals, the progressives - FG is not the finished article - nor should it ever be - the moment you join a party thats perfect - its time to leave by the emergency exits rapid. I have no idea what the Guy was expecting - but if he joined FF,Lab,SF, the Greens, PbP or the socialist party it would be the same - you just dont walk in the door of a long established party and the reins of a particular policy are handed over to you and off ya go - Jesus what was he smoking?

Anyway life will go on - its a real pity -the press are going to have a field day with both us and Lee - we'll see how the dust settles over the next few weeks.

[stewiegriffin]

Yeh, Sugar is doing a great job. Britain has been thriving since his appointment.

Well it just goes to show a certain 'flexibility' in the UK approach . It would be preposterous to make a proven expert go through the grubby mill of politics in order to 'earn' his place amongst non experts .

[The_Big_Fellow]

Who cares about fg anger, like the greens you are confusing fg voters with party members, the greens will be anhilated next time not because they have pissed off all their party members but because they have pissed off all their non party voters. The people trust george lee, if you think savaging him will help fg more fool you, you are walking a very thin line here, i voted for Dr. reilly last time out, don't take it for granted.

Agreed but they don't just seem to understand that their is a wider electorate than their core. Lee's announcement initially brought their vote up 6%, that was no coincidence.

The parties supporters here, keep talking about the strong front bench, apart from Bruton who do they have. Varadker alienates a lot of voters. Lucinda?. Simon Covney, etc etc. FG hae lost a candidate that was widely admired and trusted across all parties. Only fools do that.

[MPB]

Spot on, by jumping ship so early he let himself down badly and to be honest it sound like FG are better off without such an ego maniac maverick. He just wasnt prepared to put in the effort

Keep saying it. Eventually you may even believe it.

[Indy-pendant]

George Lee seems to be cloning...!
there's one in the UK as well - coincidence, but it is a bit eerie:
George Lee - Who is George Lee?
but this is MY George Lee

[west'sawake]

Fair enough npb
I'm not making FG members and voters synonymous, the core FG vote is at best 20%, and I'm not sure who the sfot voters who drifted to them will be unimpressed with most, Kenny or Lee, I'm thinking Lee or perhaps a plague on both their houses.

Surely you'd agree though that this is a set back for FG and will have an effect on morale within the party, albeit maybe in the short term only, I hope.

I don't think I'm savaging George, rather he was savaged by Vincent Browne and he came across as totally lacking in substance. I can sympathise wiih Lee's sense of urgency, having posted on same earlier, but Reilly, (who I am not an admirer of) did make it clear only so much can be achieved in the short term when in opposition and that Lee had unrealistic and naieve expections, others might say he had an admirable idealism, sense of urgency and self belief, on balance though at this stage I think we can call it 'the trouble with George'

[KATHY]

Kind of agree with you there Westy

what a day.

When I first heard of this afternoon from the branch secretary in the hysterics on the phone at 1 - my first reaction was to drop kick my coffee cup into the compost heap and curse Kenny and the leadership from a height and just contemplate the world of ******************** we had entered.

If George had just done the 1 O'Clock news and had left it at that - Kenny would be past the point of no return tonight.

Instead he went on and on the whole day and night to anybody who would give him media space - allowed himself to be torn to shreds - "well what input would you have given if you'd had the chance - err, em........" , its not me - its the institutions etc etc etc - he has crashed and burned - Kenny - as I said earlier after watching Lee on Six one - is actually possibly going to come out of this ok - its crazy - but by just issuing a simple statement and keeping a dignified silence - he's actually done the right thing for the first time in ages and let George off on a massive suicidal dive into ?...........

That said - FG have been massively damaged over this - no question - the next few weeks and the Ard-fheis are going to be very interesting - we'll see what happens when the dust settles - but George might have done us a massive favour - we're going to have to work to get into government at the next election for now on - its gonna be uphill the whole way now - with or without Enda - I had been quietly fuming at the free-wheeling since the Locals last year - thats gonna end now - about time.

As regards George - Yeah Im sore - I took time out from canvassing down here in the country to go and do 2 nights canvassing for him - never met him - and I know the FG organisation pulled out the stops for him - there were teams from all over the place up there shedding shoe-leather for him big time and covered every inch of Dublin south and thats the organisation that Enda built.... - yeah Im sore and Im sure Im not the only one.

FG is not perfect by any means - there is so much work and change that needs to be happening there - its scary - but the same could be applied to FF,Lab,SF etc etc in their own ways. I want to see a lot of those institutional changes that George went on about tonite - me and thousands of other FG members - but I've been slowly chipping away for 4-5 years now and after earning my stripes and doing my duty - respect is not a given - its earned - Im slowly getting into a position of influence at a lower level and in a position to try and influence, cajol,manipulate,flatter people into seeing what Im seeing - its one person at a time, one day a time, Im a baby steps man - change may come slowly - but its permanent change - politics may be about ideas - but at the end of the day - its about people - period.

I feel George didn't even give us a chance - 9 months - over 80% of the membership never met the guy - I was kinda looking forward to the Ard-fheis to finally getting a chance meet the guy - break bread with him and find out how things were going for him etc etc - the parliamentary party is only one pillar of the FG organisation - George could have built a proper powerbase for himself among the back room guys and girls and the constituency activists and membership that would have given him the influence he wanted in economic policy without any problem - thats actually where the real power in the party is - because they are the people who fund the party and keep it alive - but he gave us all the 2 fingers today without even meeting the majority of us -

Im really pissed off with that - because in every party there are the conservatives , the radicals, the progressives - FG is not the finished article - nor should it ever be - the moment you join a party thats perfect - its time to leave by the emergency exits rapid. I have no idea what the Guy was expecting - but if he joined FF,Lab,SF, the Greens, PbP or the socialist party it would be the same - you just dont walk in the door of a long established party and the reins of a particular policy are handed over to you and off ya go - Jesus what was he smoking?

Anyway life will go on - its a real pity -the press are going to have a field day with both us and Lee - we'll see how the dust settles over the next few weeks.

Very well said.