HARRIS ON HOGAN HELP – ‘YOU CAN LEARN A LOT FROM PHIL’
SIMON Harris has confirmed he spoke to Phil Hogan in the weeks preceding Leo Varadkar’s departure, saying ‘you can learn a lot from Phil’.
The Irish Daily Mail revealed yesterday that Mr Hogan was advising Mr Harris on how best to win a leadership campaign should the moment arrive.
Leo Varadkar’s shock announcement that he was stepping down as leader of Fine Gael and as Taoiseach left the parliamentary party scrambling and triggered a leadership contest, with Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris moving swiftly to see off all competition within the party.
While there is no suggestion Mr Harris or Mr Hogan had any prior knowledge of Mr Varadkar’s departure, the new leader’s relationship with Mr Hogan will be noticed by party colleagues. Mr Hogan is believed to feel deeply betrayed by Mr Varadkar over being forced to resign as European Commissioner for Trade, in 2020, in the wake of his attendance at the Oireachtas Golf Society dinner during the pandemic.
Mr Hogan said he had expected a chance to explain himself but the party leaders ‘went on this populist wave of indignation’. Mr Hogan is said to regard Mr Varadkar’s failure to defend him as a principle reason for him losing his EU job.
Speaking yesterday, Mr Harris said: ‘Phil is a friend of mine, Phil is a colleague of mine. I talk to lots of friends and colleagues. But I think you’re giving all of us maybe a little too much credit. On one level, I don’t think anyone, certainly I didn’t see a vacancy arising in the leadership of Fine Gael. I can’t speak for Phil but I was stunned and shocked when it did arise and the manner in which it arose.
‘Phil Hogan has played a major role in Irish and European politics. He is somebody I consider a friend and a colleague and I, of course, spoke to him.’
Commenting on Mr Hogan’s reputation for being able to twist arms and persuade people to his side, Mr Harris said: ‘I think you can learn a lot from Phil but you can learn a lot from many people. I like to be a politician, and I hope colleagues know me as one who listens. We do a lot of talk, but we actually need to be willing to listen.’ Mr Harris said he had been willing to ‘take advice’, and to ‘take counsel from a wide range of people, including people who have sought and secured political office like Phil’. ‘Shock and awe’ was how FG’s Brendan Griffin described the campaign by Mr Harris.