Leo Varadkar surprised most of the political press in Ireland this week by announcing that he would step down as leader of Fine Gael and make way for a new Taoiseach. He seems to have concluded that he would be a drag on his party with the European elections coming up soon, and an Irish election later this year.
Varadkar, to his great credit, seems to have ambitions for life beyond politics, although he has been a political nerd of sorts for his whole life. He was the youngest person ever to serve as Taoiseach.
But his whole career is somewhat curious. Like most existing Irish politicians, he came up as a social conservative: pro-life and anti–gay marriage. He was the closest thing to an open “Thatcherite” that Irish politics produces. He famously claimed to want to lead a party for those “who get up early in the morning.” As Ireland’s image of itself as a progressive bastion took deeper hold as an orthodoxy, Varadkar came out as a gay man. And then he became the front man for this projection of Ireland’s new global image. He was an anti-Trump, anti-Brexit symbol, who hailed the “Quiet Revolution” when Ireland legalized same-sex marriage and abortion via popular referendum and constitutional reform.
But while Ireland has spent a kind of decade of centennial celebrations recalibrating its identity and celebrating its culture, there are serious economic issues that remain unaddressed: an explosion of homelessness, a housing crisis, a growing backlash against permissive immigration and refugee policies, and a cost-of-living crisis that will absolutely hammer Irish living standards if there is another global economic slump in the future.
I actually think Varadkar is showing real shrewdness in the timing of his exit. Leaving now allows him to remain a symbol of a nation that is still proud of its present achievements. He exits before the problems that have roiled other European nations and neighbors metastasize in Ireland. He’s getting out while the getting’s still good.