Change of leader will not solve problems in Labour
Howlin tells of rebuilding plans
I’m a serious thinker. I understood the depth of the crisis facing us BRENDAN HOWLIN RTE RADIO YESTERDAY
UNDER-FIRE Labour leader Brendan Howlin insisted yesterday that “switching the name on the leader’s door” will not solve the party’s woes.
And he stressed he is a good leader and a “serious political thinker” with the vision to reconnect with voters.
Speaking about his critics – who argue there has been a failure of the party to reach out to the public in any significant way – and the stagnant poll numbers, Mr Howlin said: “It isn’t true we’ve disengaged from the membership. The membership has been very robust.
“I’ve set rebuilding the component parts of the Labour Party, reconnecting with the trade union movement.
“And I think it is just the wrong analysis to say that switching the name on the Labour leader’s door is going to have that impact.”
Speaking about whether he believes he is a good leader, Mr Howlin, 62, said: “Yes, I wouldn’t have offered myself and my colleagues wouldn’t have asked me to do it. I’m a long time in politics, I’m a serious political thinker. I understood the depth of the crisis that faced us.”
In response to poll results, which have the party at between 4% and 6%, Mr Howlin spoke of having a smaller number of people who concentrate on core constituencies and he is sure that he can double their seats in the next election.
And he also addressed whether he believes the party would have been better off having had an election so Alan Kelly could be “put to rest”’ if he had not won.
He told Today With Miriam on RTE Radio 1: “We had. We had a debate within the parliamentary party. We had an election two years previous and it made no difference in those two years.”