'Inevitable' Varadkar will leave politics if Fine Gael go into opposition, says senator

The spotlight on Mr Varadkar’s leadership of Fine Gael comes following poor polling, as well as a series of retirements by TDs within the party.

Fine Gael TDs and senators have had a mixed reaction to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s refusal to say whether he will remain as leader if the party enters opposition after the next general election.

Speaking in Seoul in South Korea on Thursday, Mr Varadkar was asked twice if he would give a commitment to remain as leader of Fine Gael if the party went into opposition.

In response, Mr Varadkar said: “I don't know what the interest is in elections all of a sudden, there aren't any elections for quite some time, and my intention is to lead Fine Gael into the next general election to gain votes and gain seats and then hopefully be able to put together another government.

“I’m not even thinking as far as that, at this stage,” he added. 

One senator said it was an “inevitability” that Mr Varadkar would leave politics if Fine Gael enter opposition.

They said it wouldn’t be a shock to the party if Mr Varadkar said he had done his time, after 14 years in Cabinet and five years as Taoiseach.

“I just don’t see how you would be motivated to rebuild the party in opposition, to maybe go back into Government after four or five years,” the source said.

Two TDs expressed surprise that Mr Varadkar did not confirm his intention to lead Fine Gael regardless of the outcome of the next election.

A separate TD said that while Mr Varadkar should have answered the question when it was put to him, they could understand why the Taoiseach avoided the question.

“Talking about leading the opposition while still Taoiseach is something that anyone would avoid,” the source said.

However, the same source said that if the party ends up in opposition after the election, there is automatically a process where Fine Gael would need to decide whether or not it has confidence in the leader. This process is done via secret ballot of the parliamentary party.

The spotlight on Mr Varadkar’s leadership of Fine Gael comes following poor polling, as well as a series of retirements by TDs within the party.