Five days after last July’s UK general election, victorious MPs gathered in the House of Commons to install a new speaker. Lindsay Hoyle, a no-nonsense Lancashire man, was up for his second term.
There wasn’t much debate. Hoyle’s election was beyond doubt with government support. So, instead, a select few MPs including the leaders of all the parties represented in the chamber, rose to give warm speeches about the speaker-elect.
The MPs were giddy. The Commons chamber crackled with first (and also last) day-at-school vibes: this was all new for hundreds of first-time MPs, yet recess was also around the corner and they all longed for a summer break after a gruelling campaign.
By tradition, the party leaders offer genial, self-effacing advice to new MPs. A few managed it, a couple did not. TUV leader Jim Allister and Reform UK’s Nigel Farage elicited only groans with partisan tirades that missed the sunny vibe. Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey got a few laughs. So, too, did DUP leader Gavin Robinson.
One MP, however, kept the entire house in stitches with an off-the-cuff delivery that combined articulation with genuine warmth and perfect comic timing. Colum Eastwood, a Derry man and MP for Foyle, was at that time the leader of the SDLP, a role he would relinquish months later after nine years in the job.
Eastwood’s eyes twinkled with mischief as he advised new MPs to “suck up” to the “boss” speaker, before in his next breath performatively lauding Hoyle with a stream of florid compliments. The entire chamber erupted in sustained laughter at Eastwood’s barely-veiled in-joke. Even Farage, sitting directly behind the Irishman, joined the fun.
The moment was telling not for what Eastwood (42) said, but for the way he delivered it – with a natural ease that eludes more seasoned parliamentarians. Even casual observers of Eastwood in recent years will have noticed his accomplished style and how it makes him stand out among his peers. He is known around Westminster for it.
It is also one of the reasons why many of Eastwood’s supporters, in London but also in Ireland, privately argue he should not be ruled out of the race for the presidency in the election later this year to replace Michael D Higgins.
In a flaccid field so far where perhaps the best-known potential contender is Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness, November’s campaign will be short and sharp and possibly won on televised debates and media performances. There, Eastwood may have a clear advantage over almost all of the other names mentioned so far. If he is to have any chance, he will also need it, to make up for his lack of name recognition in the Republic.
Eastwood, the heir-plus-one of John Hume, an early mentor, confirmed to The Irish Times this week that he is indeed mulling a run for the Áras. His supporters said he was approached to run by others and suggested there have already back room talks with a few interlocutors in Fianna Fáil, seeking help to get him a nomination for a run.
The case for Eastwood is simple but potentially alluring. He is politically hardened but also a fresh face in a moribund field. He is a Northerner who embodies a modern brand of Irishness – a youthful, progressive form of nationalism – whose day may yet be appropriate for the presidency as the prospect of a debate on Irish unity looms.
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Perhaps most importantly, say his backers, he has real charisma that might cut through with a bored Irish electorate and light up a pedestrian race. They argue Eastwood is so media friendly, he handily won almost every televised leadership debate he entered.
He also has political teeth, as UK prime minister Keir Starmer may attest. The two men were once close – Eastwood used to get a private half-hour with Starmer each week when he was leader of the opposition. But the Irishman has since flayed the UK prime minister several times in the House of Commons over a range of issues.
There are also good reasons why an Eastwood Áras campaign might never get off the ground. Firstly, his route to a nomination looks sketchy at best. He may struggle to raise the 20 Oireachtas member signatures or four county councils required.
Eastwood previously built links with Fianna Fáil. The SDLP is also formally aligned with the Labour Party in Britain and also, ostensibly, in Ireland. The word from Eastwood’s camp is that he would like to run as an independent candidate, but with the imprimatur of Fianna Fáil or Labour, or perhaps people from both, to get on the ballot paper.
That will be his biggest obstacle and it is unclear if he can scale it. Discreet talks with interlocutors are ongoing. There may be some appeal within Fianna Fáil, which has yet to select a candidate, but so far Taoiseach Micheál Martin hasn’t bitten. Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar, however, said Eastwood would be “well qualified”.
There is also the question of a current Westminster MP running for the Irish presidency, although Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness in 2011 sets the precedent.
After that, Eastwood would need to convince a possibly stumped southern electorate of his merits. To do that he’d need every ounce of his Derry charm.
