The Political Assassination of Alan Kelly | The Tonight Show

Claire Brock is joined by Political Correspondent Harry McGee, Ruth Coppinger and James Lawless TD to discuss the dramatic resignation of Labour leader Alan Kelly.
Harry McGee accounts what he describes as an "excruciating" plinth announcement. Harry explains how he told the public the Labour party has lost confidence in Kelly's leadership. He compares the situation to Vladimir Nabokov's novel 'Invitation to a Beheading.'
Ruth Coppinger points out that the public, especially the working-class public, remember Kelly from the water charge. She believes that Labour has not recovered from being labelled "rotten" over their betrayal of working-class people.
She explains how the political landscape has changed in recent years, with the Social Democrats taking a stance Labour once did.
James Lawless tells Claire the news came as a complete shock. He recalls noticing the absence of the entire Labour party for a vote at 7:00 pm in the Chamber and trying to follow the news on social media. Claire points out that he admitted to being on social media instead of attending to his job.
James brings up the bizarre nature of the resignation as he did not get an election. He believes Kely did not "breakthrough" to the wider public as a figurehead.
Claire points out that there seems to only be one name on everyone's mind for the new leader - Ivana Bacik.
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