New Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald calls Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar 'smarmy'

‘You’ll have seen him in No 10 talking about Love Actually and donning various pairs of socks'

New Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald described Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar as “smarmy” when asked to sum him up in a word.

Told that Mr Varadkar had described her as “cranky”, when asked to do the same thing Ms McDonald paused as she appeared to search for a suitable word.

Eventually she opted to describe the Taoiseach as “smarmy”.

“You’ll have seen him in No 10 talking about Love Actually and donning various pairs of socks,” Ms McDonald added.

Discussing Brexit, Ms McDonald said the current situation was a “disaster” and demanded that Ireland must stay inside the single market and the customs union.

“Brexit and the Good Friday Agreement are mutually incompatible. It is as simple as that. If I’m honest I sense a real resentment among Irish people that Ireland will become the collateral damage,” she told Sky News.

Ms McDonald was formally elected as leader of Sinn Fein after Gerry Adams, who led the party for almost 35 years, stepped down on Saturday.

She has been accused by some as being Mr Adams’s puppet but denied that would be the case.

“Gerry has led from the front for a very long time but I am the leader of Sinn Fein and I will lead. I’m not too sure how to interpret the remarks of people who have said I am a puppet,” Ms McDonald said.

She previously described Mr Adams as her political mentor, an “inspirational” leader and a “great friend”.