Flannery ousted by the leader he invented
Frank Flannery may have dragged Fine Gael back from oblivion, but he received no mercy for making a policy gaffe
In the 2002 general election, Fine Gael won 31 seats and achieved 22.5 per cent of the poll. It was the party’s second-worst performance since its foundation - in 1981 it polled 39.2 per cent under Garret FitzGerald and its future looked extremely bleak.
To make matters worse, in 2002 the Progressive Democrats had eaten into its vote. With Fianna Fáil, under the populist leadership of Bertie Ahern, riding the crest of the ...
