Varadkar is hoping his departure will do some favour to his embattled party
Analysis Matt Cooper: Leo Varadkar saw the writing on the wall and wanted no part of it Fine Gael was heading for a series of electoral thrashings under his leadership but now, without him, it may have a somewhat better chance of surviving as a participant in the next government.
His resignation speech – delivered with some understandable emotion – cited his successes and, humorously, alluded to how his many critics would offer their long lists of his failings. But his continued leadership of Fine Gael was a topic of quietly spoken but worried conversation among the party’s members and elected representatives for over a year now.
Last year Varadkar stated that his ambition for Fine Gael at the next general election was to win 45 seats with a percentage share of the vote in “mid-20s”. He believed that would deliver a fourth consecutive term in Government for his party. However, the average rating for Fine Gael in all published polls over the last two years has been about 20 per cent, less than it got in the last general election.
He also disappointed them in that his face on posters did not deliver the quantity of party votes expected. Indeed, the first of the Covid months – when the country was gripped by panic – may have saved Varadkar from a heave after the disastrous 2020 February general election that delivered his party a miserable 35 seats from just 21 per cent of the vote.
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