HOW LEO SHED THREE STONE
After shedding 3 stone, Leo’s
Niamh Horan on Varadkar’s drive to be fit for office,
Leo Varadkar has overhauled his appearance and some say it was all part of his master plan, writes Niamh Horan
THE universal truth about human nature is this: how people think they should behave and how they really feel are often worlds apart. And when it comes to sizing up politicians, the rule holds fast.
In his 16th-century handbook for politicians eager to gain power, Niccolo Machiavelli wrote: “Men in general judge more from appearances than from reality.”
Over 500 years later, the rise of pop culture, social media and 24-hour rolling news has ensured the impact of perception is more powerful than ever.
From Princeton University to the Journal of
Political Science, researchers say that, although voters weigh cold, hard data with their conscious brains, their unconscious minds weigh candidates on a far more emotional and instinctive level. And it takes just seven seconds for voters to make up their minds based on first impressions.
Studies have shown that thin and attractive candidates are ascribed positive qualities they may not possess in a psychological process known as the ‘halo effect’, while those who are overweight can be seen as lazy, emotionally unstable and socially awkward. Similarly, people with prominent brows and jaws and angular features are perceived to be dominant and powerful, while baby-faced individuals, with big, rounded cheeks and large doe eyes, are seen as honest, trustworthy and dependable.
Some politicians are resigned to the fact that they have to make do with what they were born with. Ed Miliband recently quipped: “If spin doctors could design a politician, I suspect he wouldn’t look like me.”
Richard Nixon learned about the importance of image the hard way. Two years after the world’s first televised presidential debate, he surmised: “I should have remembered that a picture paints a thousand words,” when his sweaty and exhausted appearance alongside a tanned and youthful John F Kennedy lost him an election.
And then there are those like Leo Varadkar who know how to make the most of themselves.
Somewhere at the back of your mind you may have registered that Ireland’s next Taoiseach has undergone a dramatic image transformation on the road to power. The 38-year-old Dubliner has overhauled his wardrobe and undertaken a diet and fitness regime, including swapping ready meals and pints with the lads for a high-protein diet. He has lost three stone.
There are those in his inner circle who swear blind it was all just coincidental timing, others who say it was for more deep-rooted personal reasons, and then there is the experienced political handler who is adamant that anyone who doesn’t believe his dramatic physical transformation wasn’t all part of his great, master plan to become fit for Taoiseach is just wet behind the ears.
One of Varadkar’s inner circle told the Sunday
Independent how the change in mindset began back in the middle of his tenure as Sports Minister. “There wasn’t a moment when he saw a photo and felt he was overweight. I think it was when he was surrounded by fitness in that department but he took to it like a duck to water.
“Leo has the ability to be obsessional about things, whether it’s medicine or politics or health and fitness, so that same obsession that went into studying medicine eventually went towards his weight loss.
“He went from having a very unfit lifestyle to running marathons and triathlons. Then about two years ago, during his time in the Department of Health, he developed a big obsession with running home from the Dail along the canal, through the Phoenix Park. That’s a long trek and, like everything with Leo, in the same way he can remember what he got on his first election count, he would still be able to tell you his best time.”
Before that time, according to his friend, “he was on the politician’s diet of readymade meals and pints but you don’t lose the kind of weight he did eating out in the Dail canteen.
“He would never have spoken to us about it but in his head you knew he was becoming more conscious of what he ate. He would have been a fan of eating out but he was staying away from the carbs and he definitely cut down on the drinking, especially in the run-up to the last election. He would have drunk wine, beer and spirits and he cut down on all of that. Mind you, he would still know the political importance of pints in the Dail bar but he became smart about it. He would have a soft drink instead.
“I think the relationship with Matt had an effect on him, too. When he was single he would have been going out a lot for pints with the lads but since he got with Matt, there would just be a date night here and there. Apart from that, I think he did it for himself.
“He realised he was in his 30s and he was a gay man and wanted to socialise and feel good about himself — even if he lost the election he still wouldn’t be hitting the donuts now, trust me.
“A lot of high achievers focus on their career in their 20s and then in their 30s they get a new lease of life and fitness and social life become more important.”
The friend also said that a huge weight had been lifted off Varadkar’s shoulders, which inadvertently impacted on his health.
“I think the pressure before he came out might have added to it [the unhealthy lifestyle]. Most people only have to tell their mother they are gay but he had the pressure and stress of telling Miriam O’Callaghan and the entire nation and the lead up to that would have been very stressful. A lot of people were very worried about him at the time.”
In addition to triathlons and running home, friends said Leo had access to three ‘haunts’: a gym at Trinity, another close to his home and the fitness room in the Dail. Also a fan of weight sessions, the Fine Gael leader now works out “at least three times a week but would try to do something most days”.
Apart from his weight loss, Varadkar has overhauled his wardrobe. Gone are the striped shirts teamed with pin-striped suits. From 2007-2011, the young Fine Gael man would regularly have been seen in what one political observer called “those amazing” brown suits. Grey suits, striped shirts, wide and bright red ties and a ‘man bag’ thrown over his shoulder were all part of his staple uniform. Then, with his first ministerial role, gradually his style began to change. His public became accustomed to seeing him in fitted Abercrombie T-shirts and American-style ‘prep-boy’ slacks and when he did dress formally he finished off his look with a pair of slick, dark shades.
His love of fitness and enthusiasm for the great outdoors also began to surface. He was seen in rugby tops, soccer jerseys, tackling mud-covered assault courses and getting stuck in with the volunteers of the Irish Coast Guard. A sharp-looking three-piece suit complete with red carnation also came out for an appearance at the RDS Horse Show.
But 2015 was his defining moment. A day after his 36th birthday in January 2015, Varadkar arrived at RTE to herald a new chapter in his life and political career. In an interview with Miriam O’Callaghan he went public about his sexuality and emerged to waiting photographers.
Casually dressed in beige slacks, runners and a soft grey jumper, his weight loss was never more apparent. His beaming smile said it all. The following morning, the headline on the front of the Irish Independent read: ‘Varadkar on track to be first gay Taoiseach.’
As one image and makeover consultant explained: “He knew those photos would be so widely published and republished. They are what we would call ‘definer photographs’ and they are never an accident. Like a couple coming out of a nightclub dressed up to the nines, they are always carefully thought out, chosen and decided upon.”
Asked if physical appearance mattered and if Varadkar would have been aware of this, the image consultant added: “Of course ability is important, yes, but you can be sure image matters in people’s minds. A man who looked like Winston Churchill would find it hard to get elected these days. I think Leo always wanted to be Taoiseach and this was all part of his master plan. Leo has gone from arrogant slob to sensible Taoiseach in a matter of years. He seems to have gone from thinking ‘I don’t need to look good,
‘Weight does matter — whether we like to admit it or not...’ ‘If you get in a backbencher’s car, you’re going to see food wrappers’
people will love me for my essence’ to taking more care about his appearance.”
Speaking about the importance of weight in politics, the consultant said: “There is now a rigid expectation on politicians, and female politicians get a harder time whether we like it or not, to be slim.
“If you notice in the 18 months following the general election, a lot of politicians gained weight. It’s a bit like students heading off to college with the pressures and the long work hours but the reality is if you get into a backbencher’s car, you’re going to see food wrappers, Styrofoam containers and brown paper bags that they bring their ready-made lunch in.”
When it comes to voters and political perception, the source added: “Rightly or wrongly, yes absolutely, weight does matter — as much as we don’t like to admit — and for women, even more so. The Twitterverse is vicious about women when it comes to weight and appearance and that’s the sexist reality of it.
“Sile de Valera and Mary Harney struggled publicly with weight and any time Mary Harney lost any weight she was portrayed in the media as a more worthwhile person.
“There is no point telling voters how they ‘should’ think or feel. ‘Shoulds’ don’t matter — they just feel the way they feel.”