Varadkar’s party is tired from 13 years in Government and badly in need of a shot in the arm
– and presumptive next Taoiseach – on Sunday afternoon in Athlone and promised to expend “blood, sweat and tears, day in and day out” in his efforts to rejuvenate the party and lead the country.
Fine Gael shop talk suggests that Harris is more likely to follow Enda Kenny’s example in tending the party organisation than Varadkar’s more standoffish approach. He certainly knows the party’s erogenous zones and he paid them due attention – the loudest roar and longest standing ovation were when he decried the use of the tricolour atop the coffin of “garda killer” Pearse McAuley this week.
In the coming weeks, he will get an opportunity to speak to these people. They will perk up and pay some attention when a new Taoiseach is elected, and will listen to what he says. But that window of opportunity will not stay open forever; their attention will move on. Harris will not get a second chance to make a first impression – these next few weeks will be hugely important for his leadership and his premiership.
The politics of reshuffles, though, are often overrated: the public tends to be as utterly disinterested in which politician gets which job as politicians are utterly consumed by it.
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