Browne and wished to reach an accommodation, what was viewed as Browne's tactless handling of the Catholic Church forced the moderates into silence, allowing the anti-Mother and Child Scheme members of the hierarchy under McQuaid to set the agenda. Many in the Anglican Church of Ireland community also disagreed with the scheme. The Church of Ireland Gazette saw it as 'communist' interference in the family. Numerous doctors disapproved of the scheme, some on principle, others because they feared a loss of income and a fear of becoming a kind of civil servant, referring to the plan as "socialised medicine". Browne refused to back down on the issue but received little support even from his cabinet colleagues, most of whom he had alienated on other matters, notably his failure to attend many cabinet meetings and the lack of support which he had shown them in other crises. Isolated in cabinet as a 'loner' who did not consult with his more experienced cabinet colleagues, he also faced the hostility of his own party leader, Seán MacBride, with whom he had also fallen out, as he had with most members of the Clann na Poblachta Parliamentary Party, who resented his appointment to cabinet over the heads of more senior colleagues, and who were also offended by his treatment of them. In April 1951, MacBride demanded Browne's resignation as a minister. Browne duly submitted his resignation to the Taoiseach John A. Costello for submission to President O'Kelly. The resignation took effect from 11 April 1951. In his resignation statement, Browne told the House: I had been led to believe that my insistence on the exclusion of a means test had the full support of my colleagues in the Government. I now know that it had not. Furthermore, the Hierarchy has informed the Government that they must regard the mother and child scheme proposed by me as opposed to Catholic social teaching. This decision I, as a Catholic, immediately accepted without hesitation. During the subsequent Dáil debate on the resignation, Tánaiste and Labour Party leader William Norton claimed: ...if this matter had been handled with tact, with understanding and with forbearance by the Minister responsible, I believe we would not have had the situation which has been brought about to-day. Browne explained his approach to the Dáil by saying: I might say that my question to their Lordships was: Is this contrary to Catholic moral