Leo Varadkar said something very sarky in the Dail yesterday. He told Mary Lou McDonald, after she’d urged a border poll, that if he didn’t know her better, he’d think she wanted a hard border to further her pet project, a reunited Ireland.
Was he right? I doubt it. Few constituents think more highly of their TD or MLA or MP if they deliver economic blood, sweat and tears. At the same time, there are republicans who think that only a hard border and the subsequent chaos will bring home the message that the only workable economic model in Ireland is one that operates on an all-Ireland scale. If you want the donkey’s attention, hit it over the head first.
The funny thing is, Leo Varadkar’s comment might have been better directed at Arlene Foster. Arlene was on telly last night making it clear that her party couldn’t possibly accept the inclusion of the backstop in the withdrawal treaty that Theresa May has laboured so long and hard to give birth to.
In this she is at odds with (count them) nationalists, Greens, GTC business leaders, the Ulster Farmers’ Union – just about everybody bar Robin Swann. In other words, Arlene must want a hard border, because if you take out the backstop that’s exactly what you’re inviting in. Maybe Leo will make a statement drawing attention to Arlene’s apparent commitment to the chaotic state of affairs he has accused Mary Lou of creating. Some anti-reason cock-up, eh?
And there’s more. On the brink of full time, the Tories are giving serious thought to changing their leader. They’ve got the forty-eight signatures required to trigger a contest, so who are they saying would be a better leader – Boris? Jacob? Jeremy, um, Hunt? And even if they do elect a new leader from that parcel of rogues, would they be more likely to persuade the EU leaders to open the package that has taken forever in assembling?
And if you thought that was the biggest clusterfuck you’ve ever heard of, there’s a cherry for putting on top of it. It seems Ian Paisley has had a holiday in the Maldives. (No, Virginia, I don’t understand how he finds time to squeeze in work.) The good news is that he paid for “part of it.” The bad news is that a mystery friend paid for the rest. To be given money to go on a plush holier once is suspicious. To be given money for two such holidays looks like a political death-wish.
Theresa May’s fragile tenure of No 10 must rest on the deep idiocy of her opponents.
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