Ireland’s victory in talks marks a sea change in Anglo Irish relationship

AWEEK truly is a long time in politics. Within seven days Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has gone from a political dead man walking to the engineer of Ireland’s most significant foreign affairs victory over Britain in generations. As the fallout from the McCabe e-mail fiasco reached its inevitable crescendo, Leo Varadkar looked to have suffered critical political damage and his young premiership appeared doomed to collapse within months.

Varadkar’s vaunted political instincts – so lauded during his blitzkrieg leadership campaign – lay in tatters and Micheál Martin and Fianna Fáil, having taken a major political scalp, were in the ascendency.

The wounded Taoiseach needed a win and, thanks to Teresa May and her shambolic Government’s Brexit negotiation team, he secured a victory for the ages with the guarantee that there will be no hard border when the UK quits the EU.

Delivering a harsh lesson on Britain’s vastly reduced influence on the world stage, the Government – backed to the hilt by our EU partners – emerged from the Brexit talks with precisely what they wanted.

The scale of Ireland and the EU’s victory over the isolationist Brexiteers – with their nostalgic delusions of Britain’s imperial grandeur – was evidenced by the vitriol they aimed at the Republic and our Government in the wake of Downing Street’s humiliating climbdown.

The embarrassment of the UK’s capitulation was compounded by the DUP’s threat to derail the deal – proof, if any was needed, of the Unionists’ stranglehold over May’s impotent administration – and it only added to the pro-Brexit side’s anger.

For years, Britain’s so-called Eurosceptics and Brexiteers have claimed, without any apparent justification, that quitting the EU would make Britain stronger and help it regain its rightful place among the world’s superpowers.

The events of the last week have shattered that delusion. Far from making Britain great again, Brexit has instead seen the UK capitulate to Ireland for the first time in 800 years. It is a truly remarkable turnaround and it must be an incredibly bitter pill for the British imperialists to swallow.

It’s also worth noting that for the first time ‘Ulster Says No’ has proved to be a bigger problem in Westminster than Dublin.

If that means the Tories might pay a little more heed to the history and politics of the island of Ireland that can only be a good thing going forward.

It’s hard to call the border agreement anything but a loss for the British Government but it is reassuring to see the Irish and EU governments trying to describe the deal as a win for all parties.

The Brexiteers have managed to humiliate and lessen the nation they profess to love so much. They know it and there is no need for EU diplomats to compound their embarrassment any further.

The EU has been gracious in victory. In the face of the arrogance and outright hostility displayed by Nigel Farage and his pro Brexit cronies that is laudable and one can only hope it continues.