‘We need to offer UK olive branch’

As a Brexit crash-landing grows closer, there’s a rising sense that Leo’s hardline has backf ired

THE long-term benefits of the Government’s strategy of siding with the European establishment against Britain is being questioned within its own ranks and in Westminster.

There is a growing criticism of the tactics of An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to pressurise Britain as it moves closer to a no-deal hard Brexit.

Conor Lenihan, former minister and a prospective Fianna Fáil European elections candidate, also questioned the strategy, saying the relationship between the Taoiseach and British prime minister Theresa May is becoming strained.

A source in Westminster said last night that the British government interprets the Irish decision to side with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany against Britain as ‘an-all-or-nothing policy’.

‘There are many of us within the political ranks and there are senior figures in the Department of Finance that are seriously

‘We cannot move away, they’re our neighbours’

questioning the strategy of riling the British during this Brexit row,’ said a senior Fine Gael Government figure last night.

‘We cannot move where we sit geographically on the northwest tip of Europe alongside Britain – they remain our closest trading partner,’ said the source. ‘So it has been a strange tactic to make the backstop an Irish policy. The Irish border is a European border and should be characterised as such.’

However, Mr Varadkar in Davos last week warned that there could be troops on the Irish border if the Brexit negotiations went wrong.

His spokesman clarified that he was talking about British troops.

At a press conference on Friday, Mr Lenihan criticised the Government’s strategy on Brexit.

‘In the main, he has held the line very well in relation to the backstop,’ said Mr Lenihan. ‘I do think the approach could have been better nuanced. I think that through these negotiations, we could have been more attentive to the relationship between Dublin and London.

‘There has been a lot of megaphone diplomacy from both sides in the discussions,’ he said, ‘and the only thing I would warn and emphasise, having lived in Britain in the 1980s, working as a reporter, is that when this Brexit is done and dusted, we, the Irish, will have to defend and work for the items on the Brit- ish agenda. We will be at the table and they won’t be at the table.’ Mr Lenihan also pointed out that the peace process came about because the Irish and British worked together. He added that when he was in Brussels as a minister, the British worked closely with Ireland to defend our corporate tax rate.

Sources in London also told the Irish Mail on Sunday that there has been surprise that the Taoiseach and Mrs May have not been meeting more often.

However, a spokesman for the Taoiseach pointed out last night that the first person Mrs May met in a round of meetings with European leaders was Mr Varadkar.

But Mr Lenihan said he has noted that the relationship between Mrs May and Mr Varadkar is not good. ‘We need to hold out the olive branch to Britain,’ said Mr Lenihan.

‘I think there have been far too few meetings,’ said Mr Lenihan. ‘Once this happened, we should have been over there every single month.’ Mr Lenihan said that it is ‘an open secret’ that there is not a good relationship between Mrs May and Mr Varadkar. ‘That is a pity because an Irish Taoiseach should rise above that,’ he said.

‘We do need to keep very close to them, all the more so because they are our biggest customer.’

A spokesman for the Taoiseach said that the Government has endeavoured to work with Britain at all times.

He also said that he would not ‘dignify with a response’ claims that Mrs May ‘loathes’ Mr Varadkar.

Ireland will pay a huge price for the political turmoil caused by the Brexit backstop, senior Govern-

ment sources told the MoS before Christmas. While there has been unanimous EU support for the backstop, which guarantees a soft border, it has become a major hurdle in agreeing an orderly British exit.

And as chances of a disorderly Brexit grew last week, Fine Gael ministers feared Mr Varadkar’s political reputation will suffer ‘grievously’ in the coming months.

Senior Finance Department figures confirmed that they expressed displeasure at the Government stance to the Departments of Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs.

‘There is a fear that the French and the Germans will want payback,’ said a minister, ‘and our argument to keep our corporate tax rate is weakening by the day. They will see this as the price’.

The Government issued a comprehensive contingency plan for a hard Brexit last week, the details of which were first revealed in last week’s MoS. But senior figures in Government admit the preparations are inadequate.

‘I don’t believe we could say much else publicly,’ said a minister. ‘I think Leo has done as best he can, but we have been forced into a Comical Ali situation on the border.’

This was a reference to an Iraqi general in the second Gulf War who spouted outlandish propaganda on Iraqi capabilities.

Meanwhile, the Taoiseach has been warned that Fianna Fáil will be unable to support any U-turn on the border backstop and that any attempt to impose such a move will collapse the Government.

In an indication of the political sensitivities surrounding the Taoiseach’s conduct of Brexit negotiations, Fianna Fáil representatives have been instructed not to comment in public on the issue.

They also warned: ‘Confidence in Leo is not high after this week. Those comments about the very short phone call with Theresa May were utterly unwise.’

‘When it comes to international diplomacy, Varadkar has a lot to learn from Bertie,’ they added.

Others are taking a more cynical view of the crisis.

One senior party strategist told the MoS: ‘We also must look at the politics of it. How would Leo fare in any election where he is the leader restoring the border after Fianna Fáil ended it? His support would melt like snow on a rope.’

‘Backstop U-turn would collapse Government’