John Gerard Bruton was born to a wealthy, Catholic farming family in Dunboyne, County Meath, and educated at Clongowes Wood College.

Bruton later went on to study at University College Dublin (UCD), where he received an honours Bachelor of Arts degree and qualified as a barrister from King's Inns, but never went on to practice law.

[3][4] Following Fine Gael's defeat at the 1977 general election, the new leader, Garret FitzGerald, appointed Bruton to the front bench as Spokesperson on Agriculture.

He played a prominent role in Fine Gael's campaign in the 1981 general election, which resulted in another coalition with the Labour Party, with FitzGerald as Taoiseach.

The previously supportive Independent Socialist TD Jim Kemmy, voted against the budget, which proposed among other things the introduction of VAT on children's shoes.

Garret FitzGerald resigned as leader immediately, and a leadership contest ensued between Alan Dukes, Peter Barry and Bruton himself.

Dukes was perceived to be a lacklustre leader, however, who alienated his party's TDs and Senators and made little progress in recovering the ground lost by Fine Gael in 1987.

However to the surprise of critics and of conservatives, in his first policy initiative, he called for a referendum on a Constitutional amendment permitting the enactment of legislation allowing for divorce in Ireland.

Following the inexperienced Dukes' disastrous period of leadership, Bruton's election was seen as offering Fine Gael a chance to rebuild under a far more politically experienced leader.

By the 1992 general election, the anti-Fianna Fáil mood in the country produced a major swing to the opposition, but that support went to the Labour Party, not Bruton's Fine Gael, which lost a further 10 seats.

Continued developments in the Northern Ireland peace process and his attitude to Anglo-Irish relations came to define Bruton's tenure as Taoiseach.

Bruton complained to a local radio reporter in Cork that "I am sick of answering questions about the fucking peace process", for which he later apologised.

These relations worsened when the IRA killed Jerry McCabe, a member of the Garda Síochána, in a botched post office robbery in County Limerick, and another bomb explosion in Manchester.

However, Bruton received widespread praise in the Republic for condemning the Royal Ulster Constabulary for yielding to loyalist threats at Drumcree by allowing members of the Orange Order to parade through a nationalist district.

Bruton vehemently denied this and Fine Gael counsel told the Planning Tribunal in 2003: "I refute entirely Mr Dunlop's contention that he advised me then of the alleged demand made to him by the late Tom Hand".

[citation needed] Bruton presided over the first official visit by a member of the British royal family since 1912, by Charles, Prince of Wales.

Bruton was deposed from leadership in 2001, in favour of Michael Noonan, due in part to fears Fine Gael would suffer severe losses in the 2002 election.

This not only tied Fine Gael's second-worst performance in an election but was 39 seats fewer than at its high point twenty years earlier in 1982.

[10] He accepted an offer to become European Union Ambassador to the United States, in the summer of 2004, and after resigning from the Dáil on 1 November 2004, he assumed that office.

[13] His brother, Richard Bruton, is also a Fine Gael politician and has served in several ministerial roles, most recently as Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment.

[16] Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian Prime Minister, was appointed President of the European Council on 19 November 2009 and took office on 1 December 2009.

[18] From November 2011, Bruton acted as an advisor to Fair Observer focusing mainly on the areas of politics, finance and economics as well as on issues pertaining to Europe.