How it all went wrong for Leo Varadkar

Genuinely shocking political announcements are relatively rare in the Republic. It’s a small country, with an even smaller political and media base who all know and frequently socialise with each other.

This means that the whisper-streams between politicos and hacks usually ensure that what may come as a surprise to the general population is usually well flagged, or at least strongly suspected, by the elites in advance of any public pronouncement.

But yesterday’s announcement that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was stepping down from his role seemed to genuinely catch people by surprise.

An emotional Varadkar cited ‘personal and political reasons’ for his departure. Nobody knows what the personal reasons may entail, and in future Varadkar may well come to regret ringing that particular bell. But the political reasons undoubtedly stack up.

When Varadkar first became Taoiseach back in 2017, serving in that role until 2020, he was the youngest leader in the history of the state, as well as being the first gay man to hold the office, and was heralded by many as a welcome breath of fresh air into a body politic which often seemed stale and stultifyingly conformist.