Bono uses UN love-in to reiterate his Pride for Leo

BONO’S blossoming friendship with the Taoiseach shows no signs of fading after the U2 rocker sang Leo Varadkar’s praises in front of the UN.

He gushed about Mr Varadkar as the singer took to the stage in New York in front of an audience of UN ambassadors, to throw his weight behind Ireland’s bid for a seat on the body’s powerful Security Council.

Bono, who also had a close relationship with former taoiseach Enda Kenny, was full of praise for both Mr Varadkar and his deputy leader Simon Coveney.

‘I couldn’t be prouder to share the stage with this Taoiseach and this Tánaiste, who are infuriatingly younger than me,’ he said. ‘Younger than the rock singer, and smarter.’

Bono was the star attraction as Ireland launched its bid for temporary seats on the council in 2021 and 2022. Ambassadors flocked for selfies with the Pride (In The Name of Love) rocker.

A night earlier, Bono had performed with U2 in front 152 of the 193 ambassadors at Madison Square Gardens.

The increasingly cosy relationship between Mr Varadkar and Bono was previously revealed by the Irish Daily Mail in a letter from the singer in which he said he was ‘unutterably proud’ of the country’s youngest ever leader.

Letters released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed the pair met on December 15 last after weeks of correspondence.

Days later, Bono wrote the Taoiseach a letter to tell him he felt the evening spent in his company was ‘inspiring’ and that Mr Varadkar was a ‘21st-century leader’.