Will the ‘Tik Tok Taoiseach’ undo the damage done by Leo Varadkar?

Simon Harris, the anointed successor to the outgoing Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, has quite the in-tray. Harris, who was the only candidate in Fine Gael’s party leadership race, will become Ireland’s youngest prime minister on 9 April when the Irish parliament, the Dáil, resumes after its Easter break. One of the most pressing tasks he faces is trying to rebuild a semi-decent relationship with the unionists of Northern Ireland, such is the noxious legacy of his predecessor. 

Speaking in Athlone last weekend, where the 37-year-old described his new role as the ‘absolute honour’ of his life, Harris claimed that UK-Irish relations were in a much better position compared with a year previously. Really?

While some unionists – such as the DUP – would endorse that assertion, there are plenty who would contend otherwise. After all, what Irish PM would try and rock the most comprehensive upstaging of the British since independence? 

Fundamentally, Harris is identikit to Varadkar in many ways; the epitome of the career politician, he has been described as the ‘Tik Tok Taoiseach’, such is his use of social media.