Clann Éireann de Valera and his followers into the party failed. After de Valera created the Fianna Fáil party in March 1926, Clann Éireann grew closer to that group. The party attracted little support and it failed to win any seats in Dáil Éireann at the June 1927 general election. Its seven candidates only attracted a few thousand first preference votes. Seven of them were last in their constituencies and forfeited their deposits. On 28 August 1927, the party issued a statement supporting Fianna Fáil, and ceased political activity. Clann Éireann Clann Éireann (), also known as the People's Party, was a
Éamon de Valera 16 September 1953, de Valera met British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for the first and only time, at 10 Downing Street. (The two men had seen each other at a party in 1949, but without speaking.) He surprised the UK Prime Minister by claiming that if he had been in office in 1948 Ireland would not have left the Commonwealth. It was during this period that de Valera's eyesight began to deteriorate and he was forced to spend several months in the Netherlands, where he had six operations. In 1955, while in opposition, de Valera spoke against the formation of