Ryan and Johnson actually have more in common than you might expect

EAMON RYAN told the Dáil we should grow lettuce and the like in our window boxes. But behind his genteel suggestion to do our bit for Mother Nature lurks a vicious fight for power. The Green Party leader can be in no doubt that his deputy wants to steal his crown.

Catherine Martin has thrown down the gauntlet. She will give “serious consideration” to what can best be described as a leadership heave. The only thing holding her back is timing; if the numbers stack her way she will make her move.

Ryan is forewarned. He is not the first party leader who may rue the day he was “super successful” in a general election. Jack Lynch had scarcely a moment’s peace after he led Fianna Fáil to a groundbreaking Dáil majority in 1977.

It may have been a case of not enough work for idle hands. But Lynch’s party, awash with many surplus TDs, became a melting pot of intrigue. Soon the knives were out.

Charles Haughey would famously do the dirty. He unseated his leader, partly by promising promotions to disaffected backbenchers.

Ryan, with his understated sense of decency, personifies what many understand to be Green politics in Ireland. Whatever his critics may say, he led his party to a new high in the election, landing 12 seats.

The result is the Greens can no longer be dismissed by some in Leinster House as a kind of annoying fringe movement.

With everything to play for in a tight numbers game, the party is a powerbroker in the new Dáil.

However, Martin’s ideas as to how the Greens approach a range of highrisk, contentious issues remain a mystery. She initially opposed a coalition with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, yet she is now leading the negotiating team trying to clinch a deal.

Martin can argue she is accepting the popular will as expressed by her compatriots. But riding two horses is an old political ploy. Being kind of against coalition, but sort of for it, leaves her well positioned to woo sundry Green factions come times of turbulence.

Now it is up to Ryan to fight his corner. Sooner rather than later he must confront the enemy within. There may be no option but to have a showdown in whatever guise.

Meanwhile, another party leader is also facing a threat to his long-term security of tenure – none other than Boris Johnson. New Labour supremo Keir Starmer has added an important feather to his bow; he can get under Johnson’s skin.

Once the first heady days of his premiership pass, Johnson will have the old Jack Lynch problem. Like the former Fianna Fáil leader, he too must keep a huge parliamentary majority on-side. A phalanx of Tory MPs hold high-risk traditional Labour seats. They won’t want to see their leader coming off second best in Commons debates.

With a combination of Covid and Brexit shattering old certainties, both he and his handlers will be wary of any serious slippage in popularity.

Starmer’s style could hardly be in greater contrast to what we see as par for the course with the current Number 10 occupant.

The Labour leader, a much-admired legal eagle, is determinedly low-key, but “relentlessly forensic” in political debate.

There have already been a few occasions when he verbally sliced through Johnson’s trademark bluster. The result was Johnson came across as

lightweight – unsure of his facts – and basically trying to wing it.

Starmer’s public persona can also be dour and somewhat passionless. However, the bottom line is that for the first time since the emergence of Tony Blair, Labour has a leader who looks electable as a prime minister.

But despite the fervour of those who might wish to bring them down, Johnson and Ryan pack a mighty punch. They have a proven connection with voters.

At the end of the day, MPs and TDs – even disgruntled backbenchers – want a leader who will get them re-elected. Johnson has shown he’s a vote-winner for his party. The same can be said of Ryan.

In Johnson’s case, it’s what has been described as razzle-dazzle. For Ryan, it’s a presence and a pedigree hardearned. In both cases it could be said they have the X-Factor. Have Martin and Starmer got it?

Ryan led the Greens to a new high in the election with 12 seats. They can no longer be dismissed as an annoying fringe movement