The government’s deeply cunning Brexit plan comes unstuck

So, Frances Fitzgerald, the Tánaiste, has resigned. It now looks as though Leo Varadkar’s minority Irish government will not face a vote of no-confidence that it would likely have lost and, consequently, there will be no Irish election before Christmas. That’s a matter of considerable relief in Dublin but also in London. 

Irish political scandals are often esoteric but this, frankly, was no time for an election and that recognition, above all else, compelled Fitzgerald’s departure. In other circumstances she – and Fine Gael – might have fought this to the final furlong. But these are not ordinary times in Dublin. It seems entirely probable, as matters stand, that relations between Dublin and London will chill to their coldest temperature in a generation. As I wrote last week, the Irish are determined to protect their view of the Irish national interest even if this risks delaying or derailing progress on other Brexit-related matters. 

Bafflingly, some pro-Brexit voices in this country, hellbent on delivering a Brexit that, they believe, is in the national interest still seem puzzled that other countries might also act in defence of their own interest.