Analysis: Leo Varadkar’s remarks rarely careless outbursts
Fine Gael heavyweight’s rare political skill – inside, yet slightly outside political ferment
Leo Varadkar and the rest of the Fine Gael team – Simon Coveney, Frances Fitzgerald and Pascal Donoghue – arriving at Trinity. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Oops, he’s done it again. Leo Varadkar has opened his mouth and got into trouble – again. This time it was his comments about Fianna Fáil’s stance on water charges at the negotiations with Fine Gael on government formation that kicked off a minor political firestorm.
The Fine Gael negotiating team , on the instructions of the acting Taoiseach, had just made a significant climbdown in the talks, conceding substantially to Fianna Fáil on the future of water charges (to be suspended) and Irish Water (to continue, but with a greatly changed status). The concession was painful for Fine Gael but necessary to allow a government to be formed.
Cue Varadkar, who took to the airwaves on Thursday, ostensibly to talk about the National Children’s Hospital, which had just received the planning go-ahead. A great day for the children of Ireland, he said. But there was other business on his mind too.
Speaking to RTÉ, he said he thought the fact that Fianna Fáil was prepared to cause an election over Irish Water was “ridiculous”.
“Water charges are being suspended, they’re not being abolished. But it’s the wrong thing to do. It’s not in the public interest to do this.”
He later repeated his views on Newstalk and Today FM.
Fianna Fáil was incensed and came out flailing at Varadkar – “self-serving”, “Tory-like”, and so on.
Others expressed annoyance that he was on the negotiating team which had agreed the deal and then came out to condemn it.
Fianna Fáil’s Willie O’Dea observed that Varadkar wanted to wear the crown of thorns and accept the 30 pieces of silver. It was a fair enough point.
Annoyance
“That’s Leo for you. There he goes again, shooting his mouth off, playing to the media” was the view of some.
However, there were others in Fine Gael who positively cheered when they heard him.
“It doesn’t scupper the agreement and it helps us with the party and the members,” says one high-ranking Fine Gael source.
“It shows people that Fianna Fáil are forcing us to do this. So in that way it’s helpful.”
In fact Varadkar’s interventions are rarely a case of speaking carelessly. Rather, they tend to be carefully calculated to promote the political advantage of Fine Gael and of Leo Varadkar – and not always necessarily in that order. He is not, after all, a reckless young man by nature.
It’s heading for a decade since Varadkar was elected a TD and was first widely tipped as the party’s next leader. He’s older and wiser now, and, colleagues say, less predictably ideological.
One Cabinet colleague says Varadkar’s contributions were “unusual and thoughtful”.
Labour Ministers had expected to him to be a standard right-winger, but they were surprised even before he moved to the Department of Health and began – as do all Ministers for Health – to look for extra public spending.
Some of them joked their greatest achievement in government was to make a social democrat of Varadkar. That might be overstating it a bit.
“His interventions were always intelligent, always worth listening to,” says one person who served in Cabinet with him.
He loved being Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, and was dreadfully disappointed – but not entirely surprised – to be moved to the Department of Health in the reshuffle of summer 2014.
There he had two priorities: to make sure health issues did not lose the general election for Fine Gael and to make sure they did not destroy his political career. Not being a masochist, he would prefer not to be Minister for Health again.
Rock star
The Independent TDs took his impatience with them (another not infrequent quality) as arrogance.
He has one priceless political attribute: many people do not think he is like other politicians. They think he is a “straight talker”. His habit of speaking frankly (as well his public coming out as a gay man last year) has been central to that public persona.
Following a series of focus groups organised by The Irish Times early this year, pollster Damian Loscher wrote: “Varadkar speaks openly and honestly, our participants believe. Voters who have never met him feel they know him.” In a resolutely anti-politician public culture, that is gold dust.
Varadkar has demonstrated great skill because he has managed to be inside, but also slightly outside politics.
Inside government but able to say it’s not doing a good enough job.
Inside the negotiating team, but able to criticise its agreements.
If he does become party leader and taoiseach that will be a harder trick to pull off.
