Leo Varadkar called Ireland’s 2020 general election in the expectation of being rewarded for his handling of Brexit. He was brutally disappointed. Fine Gael dropped from first to third place, behind Fianna Fail and a soaring Sinn Fein.
Voters did not care about Brexit: fewer than 1 per cent mentioned it in the exit poll. Their overwhelming concerns were health and housing.
A theory has since taken hold that although Varadkar’s robust approach to Britain did him no favours at the ballot box, it benefited Sinn Fein by bringing assertive Irish nationalism into the mainstream. Like most divinations of the national mood, this is somewhat mystical and unprovable. Only 1 per cent of voters mentioned a united Ireland in the exit poll, although Sinn Fein
