Official called Bob Geldof ‘fairly has-been’ when considering Nobel nomination

It must have been flattering for Bob Geldof to hear that the Irish government was considering nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize for a second time, in 1987. But he might not have been so flattered to hear a civil servant describing him as a has-been pop star.

The Boomtown Rats front man and activist had been nominated by the Irish government for the peace prize in 1986 for his work on famine relief in Ethiopia. He was thought to be the front runner for the award and a congratulatory statement had been prepared for taoiseach Garret FitzGerald in preparation for the win, newly released files from the national archives show.

Had the singer won, the taoiseach would have pointed to his role in nominating him and would have said the Nobel Peace Prize was “the ultimate tribute to his unique and outstanding contribution to the relief of famine in Africa”. However, Dr FitzGerald never got a chance to make the speech as the prize was won by Elie Wiesel, the Romanian-born author and Holocaust survivor.

Following year

At another awards ceremony for the singer the following year, Dr FitzGerald said the political parties would be happy to nominate him again for the Nobel prize. This sparked a flurry of correspondence over the advisability of nominating the singer again, and the likelihood of success.

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Analysing his chances of winning, a Department of Foreign Affairs official said Geldof remained a frontrunner for the prize. She had read his autobiography Is That It? and said it illustrated his skill “as a fairly has-been pop star in manipulating the narcissi of the pop world” to support the public response to the Ethiopian famine.

Liam Rigney, the ambassador with responsibility for Oslo, was consulted to see if he had any local knowledge on Geldof’s chances. The city is the home of the Nobel Peace Prize. He noted that the Dubliner had been asked why he didn’t win the prize, on a Norwegian television show. Geldof speculated that it was because of his age and because the committee might have thought that his lifestyle may, in the future, involve him in incidents “which would not be regarded as in keeping with a Nobel prize winner”.

Congratulatory speech

Advising against nominating the singer a second time, the ambassador wrote: “I feel one cannot disregard Mr Geldof’s own remarks and I suspect they may lie somewhere near the truth.”

Soon after, an official confirmed that the government would not be nominating Geldof again. He was, however, nominated by British Labour MP Greville Janner. There was no need for a second congratulatory speech to be prepared, as that year’s peace prize was won by Óscar Arias Sánchez, a Costa Rican activist. (File: 2021/1/4)