On Bruton’s makeover

‘WHERE he lacked was in his presentation. He would dress a bit untidily. One of the first things I did when I was chairman of the parliamentary party and when I was proposing John Bruton to be Taoiseach I insisted on bringing him down to Louis Copeland’s.

‘And at Louis Copeland’s we purchased three suits for him with matching ties and shirts.

Everybody noticed the difference on television, they couldn’t believe the makeover he got. There was never anything wrong with John Bruton’s message but sometimes they didn’t listen because of his presentation.

‘I remember the day we went in I asked him to produce his credit card and he nearly f***ing died when he saw the cost because I’d say he hadn’t bought a suit for years.

‘After about a year I noticed that he had started to mismatch the ties with the suits.’