JOHN BRUTON embraces change as a tree gathers rings. Since his election to the Dail 28 years ago, this thoughtful, ebullient, unpredictable and unpretentious leader of Fine Gael has reinvented himself many times.
A prosperous farming background in Meath produced a conservative nationalist: a man who hangs a picture of John Redmond on his office wall, is opposed to militant republicanism and has an unshakeable commitment to democratic methods. All else is growth and flux.
Educated at UCD and Kings Inns, Mr Bruton opted for politics rather than the law and, at the age of 22, was returned as the youngest TD in the 1969 general election. He failed to make an impact.
This lacklustre performance continued as a junior minister at Education and at Industry and Commerce in the 1973/77 coalition government. It reflected Fine Gael's amateur, gentleman politician ethos of those days. As a result, Mr Bruton was frequently ridiculed and patronised by the professional heavy hitters in Fianna Fail.
The defeat of the Cosgrave/Corish government in 1977 brought Garret FitzGerald to power as leader of Fine Gael and John Bruton began to develop in opposition as a politician of substance. An indifferent stint in agriculture gave way to innovation as spokesman for financial affairs.
Ideas and policies began to flow. His political career was rejuvenated as an economic reformer.
The formation of a shortlived, minority coalition government in 1981 brought trouble with the Labour Party. Its ministers resisted Mr Bruton's radical proposals as Minister for Finance to control the ballooning national debt by limiting public spending and increasing taxes.
Finally, Independent TDs rejected his Budget proposal to impose VAT on children's shoes and clothing, and the government fell.
Less than a year later, Fine Gael and the Labour Party were back in Government. But Alan Dukes was put in charge at Finance.
A hurt and embittered Mr Bruton, as Minister for Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism, became embroiled in ongoing ideological conflict with Labour ministers within Cabinet.
Under Margaret Thatcher's categories of politician, he was a conviction man, fired by strongly held beliefs and committed to final victory. Others, the "Wets", were wimps who bent with the wind and drifted with the tide.
Mr Bruton's determination to have his way led to intense Cabinet infighting and the resignation of the late Frank Cluskey over Dublin Gas. But Mr Bruton's toughguy approach also brought advancement. He was given back control of Finance.
However, the coalition government imploded when Labour Ministers walked out of Cabinet, rather than accept the terms of his 1987 budget.
Alan Dukes, with a modern, moderate image, won the subsequent race for the leadership of Fine Gael. But three years later, after the Tallaght Strategy and the 1989 election, Fine Gael turned to John Bruton for salvation.
REINVENTED as the champion of the "coping class", with a mix of Christian democratic and social democratic values, Mr Bruton linked his leadership of Fine Gael with a commitment to divorce legislation and the liberal agenda. And when the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrats government collapsed in 1992 he advocated the formation of a rainbow coalition, embracing Fine Gael, the Labour Party and the Progressive Democrats.
He miscalculated when he ignored Dick Spring's sensitivity and ruled out involvement by Democratic Left. After a disastrous election for Fine Gael and inconsequential negotiations, a Fianna Fail/Labour Party government was formed.
In opposition, Mr Bruton revised his attitude to Democratic Left and, while keeping the Progressive Democrats sweet, he established a strong working relationship with Proinsias De Rossa. The investment paid off when the Fianna Fail/Labour coalition fell and Mr Bruton triumphantly emerged as Taoiseach, with the Labour Party and Democratic Left as partners.
Image shifted again. Conviction man metamorphosed into consensus man. Freshly groomed and politically housetrained, Mr Bruton adopted the mantle of statesman in the Dail and that of an understanding chairman at Cabinet. A Taoiseach committed to the Northern Ireland peace process, he helped to negotiate the terms of the Framework Document and the ground rules for all party talks.
Mr Bruton is now striving for a place in the history books as the man who helped to bring lasting peace to Northern Ireland; who presided over a lasting economic miracle and who led Fine Gael into two successive governments.