Varadkar’s dig at Boris Johnson on Brexit
Cool heads... a snub to DUP... and strong allies among former Thatcherites – how we won Brexit war
LEO Varadkar’s use of a famous Churchill quote at the end of the Brexit talks was a dig at Boris Johnson, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Sources close to the Taoiseach said the wartime prime minister is ‘beloved’ of Brexiteers and the British Foreign Secretary has written a biography of him.
In his speech, the Taoiseach refers to Churchill’s speech after British General Montgomery defeated Rommel at the Battle of El Alamein in North Africa in November 1942, in which the prime minister said: ‘Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’
Historical references in Mr Varadkar’s speeches have increased since he hired Trinity College history professor Patrick Geoghegan as special adviser last summer, but members of his inner circle claim this particular reference was the Taoiseach’s idea.
One minister said: ‘It was a dig at Boris Johnson,’ about whom there is particular scorn within the Irish Government. That Mr Varadkar ended the week thumbing his nose at the UK Foreign Secretary demonstrates the political distance travelled in a week.
At 9am on Monday, the mood in the Cabinet room was upbeat, but it was not to last. The deal, to all intents and purposes, seemed done, but two people were being cautious. Mr Varadkar warned that a resolution might come ‘in a few hours or a few days’. And Joe McHugh, the Donegal-based Chief Whip, warned: ‘The deal had come too easily. Nothing comes easy in the North. It’s too good to be true.’
The deal did break down and there were allegations that premature glory-hunting by Leo and Simon sank it. One senior government source said: ‘We vociferously dispute the claim that we jumped the gun; we held back and held back. The trouble came from the May call to the DUP.’
Senator Frank Feighan told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘I was receiving worried calls from London contacts from 7.10am on Saturday. Others were getting them too.’
But Cabinet sources noted that ‘Leo remained sanguine; the war had already been won in Brussels and the EU. What was happening in the UK let alone the North was peripheral.’
Ministers were instructed to ‘sit tight and not take ownership of the problem’, said a source, ‘this was a British problem, we have the deal we want, the deal is out there and it’s public. And we have no intention of walking away.’
Ministers were instructed to keep quiet in the media because ‘if they conceded that the DUP or the British government had a point, that was the moment the EU or the British turned around to us and said come up with a solution’.
Senior ministers also dismissed complaints about the absence of contacts with the DUP. They said: ‘Our strategy was to stay with Europe. There were calls to May and Juncker on Thursday, it was up to the Brits to handle the DUP.
‘Our concern was, would May call their bluff, would the Brits plough ahead or fold.’
The positions were hardened by a poll in the North revealing 85% want a soft Brexit. One minister noted: ‘There was no way they were going to go against the view of 85% of the voters.’ Another said; ‘Our strategy was based on the simple reality that the DUP were in a cleft stick; they were stuck and didn’t know the way out of the mess. We weren’t in the mood to help. Leo is tough that way.’
The tough response was informed by the belief that the diplomatic war had also been won in London.
Senior sources said: ‘Key Irish politicians have been building the UK equivalent of the Irish caucus in Washington for more than a year. Originally, the main task was to inform the Brits that we had no intention of re-joining the Commonwealth; we were staying with Europe.’ And they added: ‘That work paid off last week, we were pushing an open door, the UK elite are desperate to back out of Brexit.’ Funnily enough, they added: ‘75% to 80% think Brexit is mad but they are afraid to speak out. The border has given them the back door they were looking for to ensure there is at least a soft exit.’
But things were less certain on Thursday. A figure close to the heart of Government said that ‘the mood among the candle-light was not great’ at the Cabinet Christmas dinner that night, in the newly
Ministers told to sit tight. This was a British problem. We have our deal
refurbished National Art Gallery. Elements of the Tory Party were, they said, ‘still trying to use us to punch a hole in the European Alliance.’ But while only half the Cabinet attended, Mr Varadkar and Mr Coveney were there, and they were upbeat.
The Secretary General to the Government Martin Fraser was at the dinner and was praised for playing ‘a pivotal role’, in the Irish success story.
And Irish ambassador to Brussels Declan Kelleher was the unseen hero of the talks last week, said sources.
They added: ‘Kelleher was the author of the plan where we returned to the template of the Good Friday Agreement.’ And the current deal does not step a yard outside of its parameters.
And Senator Feighan was a key point man in the halls of Westminster.
A minister said: ‘He secured a lot of key allies like Michael Dobbs, the Conservative peer who wrote [the original London-based] House Of Cards and Peter Hain.’
Lord Dobbs, a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, once known as ‘Westminster’s baby-faced hit man’, emerged as one of Ireland’s key weapons in trying to stop the collapse of the Brexit House Of Cards.
On Leo, ministers noted: ‘There aren’t dramatic defining moments. He is a Lemass-style pragmatist, there is a plan and he sticks to it. He consistently said the real deadline is a few hours or Thursday week.’ One senior source said: ‘The optics were good, no old men, just Helen McEntee and two young guns in a hurry.’ However, there was some unease about Coveney’s performance, particularly the claim that he expected a united Ireland in his lifetime. ‘That really spooked them [the DUP]. Leo said it first, but that was in private. Simon copied Leo but in public. It’s hard work running him.’
Sources also praised McEntee, the new Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs, saying: ‘The contrast between our team, Leo, Simon and Helen and the British was heartening. Ours are young, sharp and photogenic, Boris and Theresa look jaded and, in the words of Boris, are barely muddling through.’
One senior source said: ‘Helen is the daughter of a publican and that teaches you the sort of skills you don’t get in Trinity. She has been clever enough to get advice from people who know Europe such as Lucinda [Creighton].’
But a note of caution remains – with a long road ahead. A minister conceded: ‘This is a temporary respite; there is no solution that doesn’t involve a border. It is how we define it.’
Tory peer who wrote House of Cards was a key Irish ally