Leo Varadkar opens up about Kylie Minogue meeting, pandemic-era music festival controversies in new memoir

Leo Varadkar's political career hasn't always struck the right chord, from setting up a private meet-and-greet with his favourite singer to attending a music festival at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He discusses these controversies and more in his new memoir Speaking My Mind. The 400-page autobiography spans from his childhood to his terms as Taoiseach and Tánaiste to his departure from government last year.

He describes himself as an avid music fan throughout the book, recounting when he sent a letter offering to personally welcome pop singer Kylie Minogue to Ireland ahead of her Dublin show.

However, that resulted in a media firestorm after the letter and photos from the meeting went public. Senators criticised him for not concentrating on issues of housing, education, homelessness and post-Brexit matters, with Michael McDowell calling him a "bit of a camera slut" on The Late Late Show.

Varadkar says he questioned if the outcry was disproportionate because of his sexuality.

"Would the same commotion have been generated by a letter written by Enda Kenny to Bruce Springsteen, or Micheál Martin to Willie Nelson?" Varadkar writes.

"Or was it the fact Kylie's a 'gay icon' what made it all so funny? It was hard to avoid concluding that my detractors were making a fuss because it was just so...gay to like Kylie, and that some leaders who are gay shouldn't be too gay."

In another candid section, Varadkar opens up about the controversy that ensued after a photo emerged on social media showing the then-Tánaiste at a London music festival, posted the same day Electric Picnic was cancelled due to Ireland's strict COVID-19 restrictions.

Varadkar writes that the Mighty Hoopla festival was open-air, required attendees to be vaccinated and took place a week before Ireland was set to allow music festivals. He claims that official government advice was to follow the rules of the country you're in and given the looser rules in the UK, he decided to go.

"Big mistake," Varadkar writes.

"The festival wasn't fun. I was on edge. I was often recognised in London. There are a lot of Irish there, and plenty of British who'd seen me on the news."

He describes receiving a message from a friend and colleague telling him to check Twitter, where he says "the pile-on was ferocious."

Irish musician Niall Breslin (AKA Bressie) posted that Varadkar failed to "show leadership, empathy or solidarity to an industry decimated by the pandemic." Singer Mary Coughlan said on radio that his actions were in "poor taste."

Varadkar says he left the festival early after witnessing the social media storm, which caused him to question whether to continue in politics at all.

"I really don't want to do this any more, I thought," Varadkar writes.

"I'm a different person than when I started out in politics. Life's moved on. My priorities have changed. I want to be able to live my own life, my way. Maybe I should move on before the handover at the end of 2022.

"I had fallen out of love not with politics, but with the idea that politics was everything and that I always had to be the person leading the charge."

Speaking My Mind: The revealing autobiography from an unlikely and singular Irish prime minister is set for official release on September 11 via Sandycove.