Mr Pat Rabbitte's manifesto in the 2002 Labour Party leadership contest proposed an electoral strategy for Labour opposed to the one he is now pursuing.
It emerged yesterday that Mr Rabbitte's manifesto, sent to all party members in 2002, proposed that Labour should not prioritise alliances with other political parties during the lifetime of this Dáil.
"I shall encourage tactical parliamentary co-operation under Labour leadership," the document said. "However more formal alliances on the left or otherwise are more problematic and will not be a priority."
It went on: "The choice must be to strengthen the Labour Party rather than engaging as a weak force in cultivating alliances with even weaker political forces." This was a reference to the weakness of Fine Gael after the 2002 General Election.
He went on to say that the best route back to government for Labour was "effective, full-blooded opposition to this Government. To coalesce or not, and with whom: these are practical tactical questions. They arise - or do not - after an election."
These parts of his manifesto are not consistent with Mr Rabbitte's position before, during and since the leadership election campaign, during which he identified the removal of the Fianna Fáil/PD coalition from office as Labour's key priority. Mr Rabbitte has since committed himself to working to agree a pre-election pact with Fine Gael.
A spokesman for Mr Rabbitte insisted yesterday that the independent line adopted in the manifesto was only a restatement of the Labour Party's constitutional position. This is that any decision to enter coalition can only be made by a party conference after a general election.
Asked about the stated opposition to "cultivating alliances with even weaker political forces", he said Mr Rabbitte's position in relation to building an alternative government was well known and consistent.
On Sunday Mr Brendan Howlin TD, who was defeated by Mr Rabbitte for the leadership in 2002, said he would prefer Labour to take an independent stance during this Dáil rather than go into the election allied with Fine Gael.
Yesterday Mr Howlin said the view outlined in Mr Rabbitte's manifesto was "an encapsulation of my own view".
However he did not accuse Mr Rabbitte of performing a U-turn. He echoed the view of Mr Rabbitte's spokesman that the current leader had consistently put forward the view that Labour should forge an alliance with Fine Gael - even if he had had not done so in his manifesto.
"Pat made a virtue of opposing the 'stand-alone' strategy we adopted during the last election campaign, and went so far as to say he would not be available to serve in a government with Fianna Fáil. His view was laid out fairly before the last election. Pat won his battle and is entitled on foot of that to set out his own stall and I think he will do that."
Opponents of Mr Rabbitte's strategy argue that alliances between Fine Gael and Labour generally benefited Fine Gael but not the Labour Party. They argue that Mr Rabbitte gave the ailing Fine Gael a huge credibility boost in the eyes of voters by making clear his desire to put them in government. They maintain this contributed to Fine Gael's recent revival of fortunes. In contrast, they say, the June elections and recent opinion polls show no such benefit for Labour.
Most of the minority within Labour which believes a pre-election pact with Fine Gael is not the correct strategy for the party now say they accept they cannot change the position this side of an election. However they are set to seek internal party consultation on the nature and timing of any deal with Mr Kenny's party.
Mr Howlin said yesterday that Mr Rabbitte's view on the benefit of a pre-election pact with Fine Gael was shared by many in Labour.