I feel a bit sorry for Leo Varadkar

Granted, there were moments during Britain’s Brexit meltdown pre-Boris when Ireland’s leader Leo Varadkar was quite annoying. To be sure, we Brits were making complete fools of ourselves, sending Theresa May off to whatever European capital it was that week to be humiliated by Tusk, and changing our demands or not being able to explain what our demands were, or generally just behaving in the negotiations like a complete bunch of muppets. But let’s face it, we generally knew it was embarrassing. We did not need neighbour Leo popping up on the telly all the time, that little smile on his face, to point it out and call us a small country.

After all, if – during the worst of the Brexit crisis – we needed “Irishsplained” we need only turn to the latest screed from anti-Brexit historian Fintan O’Toole who could explain in one of his comment pieces, lapped up by hardline Remainers in London, that our national uselessness was rooted in British Brexiteers being a bunch of English nationalist isolationists who wanted to revive the British empire, or something. Hold on. Do isolationists even go abroad? Yes, if they are aggressive English nationalist isolationists who like stomping about in the sun.

Quite a lot of the colonialists were actually Scottish. Indeed, the Scots were the real imperialists, running a third of the colonial enterprise and making a fortune out of it. The English isolationist nationalists of the 18th and 19th century made us do it, obviously, so they must get all the blame.

Incidentally, fast forward to now and this week progressive Fintan is recommending that Sinn Fein, Irish isolationist nationalists, should be part of a “progressive” new Irish government. Very progressive! That’s Sinn Fein, a party rooted in a real terrorist army that killed more than 1,800 people, including 600 civilians, many of them on the streets of silly old Britain.

Fintan may yet get his wish, if Sinn Fein does well in this weekend’s election and the established parties crumble. SF is leading the polls, with voters angry about the Irish housing crisis keen to protest.

This means that – at the time of writing – it looks as though Leo will be out of a job. His party Fine Gael is running third. Voters go to the polls tomorrow and the results are Sunday.

Regardless of all this, I admit I do feel a bit sorry for Leo. Not massively sorry for him. But a bit.

He’s a democrat who has spoken out robustly and bravely against Sinn Fein. He says, correctly, that they are not – what with them having the IRA at their back – a normal political party. They pose a threat to democracy.

So, let’s hope the poll are wrong. Let’s hope that a quarter or more of Irish voters do not vote for Sinn Fein.