Leo Varadkar reveals his fascinating experience as Irish prime minister at a time of much change and turbulence. Leo Varadkar was an unlikely Taoiseach- the youngest on taking office in 2017, the first Taoiseach to be gay and the first person of colour to be Taoiseach.

Equally unlikely was his decision to bow out of politics in his mid-forties. Now, liberated from the constraints of office, he tells his fascinating story with characteristic courage and candour, and provides a unique insight into the formation and evolution of a senior politician.

In Speaking My Mind, Leo Varadkar shares his pride in helping to bring about transformational changes, such as marriage equality. He describes experiences that only a prime minister could have- speaking frankly to Pope Francis on the legacy of church abuses, connecting with Barak Obama about both being the tall dark guy with funny name, navigating challenges such as the pandemic and the fallout from Brexit. He writes honestly about the costs that go with the immense privilege of holding high office. He made history as Ireland’s then youngest premier and the first gay man and person of colour to hold the office. He was being caught twice in camera picking his nose ( including once at King Charles III’s coronation, having a disco-ball lamp he had spotted on Instagram delivered to government buildings, prompting a bomb scare and a viral video of him kissing a man who was not his partner in a club shortly before becoming Taoiseach for the second time. In another lapse of judgement, in 2019, he had leaked the draft of an agreement between the government and Irish Medical Organisation to a doctor friend who headed a rival organisation and it never crossed his mind that could be seen as unethical. He was cleared in July 2022, five months before he became premier again. 

In December 2019 When UK’s House of Commons finally endorsed the Brexit deal he had sealed with his London counterpart Boris Johnson, the then Irish prime minister was relieved and happy.

“ I had passed the test. I had stood up to the pressure and protected Ireland’s interests” Varadkar now 46 writes in his memoir Speaking My Mind. This would be part of legacy. I would always know that I was consequential Taoiseach. That day I felt I’d earned my place in the history books”.

It is a cocky statement from the trained doctor who had from a young age been in single-minded pursuit of the top job in Irish politics, and whose two stints in office – 2017-20, and 2022-2024 – plunged him into navigating not only Brexit, but also Covid-19 and Ireland’s intractable housing crisis.

On all three issues, Varadkar believes he made a difference, and rakes over fallouts with fellow politicians and details his regrets at sometimes not having behaved better towards close colleagues. Despite revealing in his nickname “the Rottweiler” while in opposition, Varadkar reveals a lingering insecurity.

Speaking My Mind by Leo Varadkar, Sandycove £25, 432 pages.