MARK Durkan's decision to run as a Fine Gael candidate may prove to be a good one for him and for Leo Varadkar's party but it is undoubtedly bad news for the SDLP.
As Colum Eastwood seeks to forge a new all-Ireland partnership with Fianna Fáil, the man who along with John Hume helped shape the modern SDLP and Stormont power-sharing arrangements has pulled the rug from under his successor's feet.
Whatever way Monday's announcement is spun by a clearly rattled SDLP leader, it has undermined his fledgling partnership project and left the Foyle MLA publicly embarrassed.
Mr Eastwood is doing his utmost to appear nonchalant but this is something that as well as damaging him politically, must hurt him personally.
While Mr Durkan too will seek to rationalise his actions, citing Brexit and the need to give the north a continued voice in Brussels and Strasbourg, it's difficult not to see his decision as anything other than self-serving.
He appears to have suddenly eschewed his social democratic principles, swapping them for the centre-right ideology which he so often passionately condemned from Westminster's green benches.
This about-turn is bound to be something his rivals will highlight in the forthcoming election campaign.
It was widely accepted that politics in the north was poorer since the former deputy first minister lost his MP seat almost two years ago and to many he was regarded as the SDLP's best hope of regaining Foyle – the seat that many believe is its birthright.
However, by pursuing a second career with Fine Gael, Mr Durkan has helped sabotage the prospects of the SDLP wrestling the seat from Sinn Féin at the next general election. If he doesn't believe the SDLP can win, why should the electorate?
For Fine Gael, it is something of a master stroke that bloodies Micheál Martin's nose and creates an opportunity for gaining another seat in the European Parliament.
But securing the necessary votes to get a second candidate over the line alongside former Tanáiste Frances Fitzgerald is far from an easy task for Mr Varadkar's party, which according to the latest opinion polls hovers around 30 per cent support in Dublin.
Mr Durkan will likely need the support of those who traditionally opt for a left-leaning candidate, and while his personal credentials suggest a strong belief in social justice, his decision to throw his hat in with Fine Gael will grate with many potential voters.
It is move that would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago but fits with a global pattern of political unpredictability and mould-breaking.
Nonetheless, for SDLP members who are already wary of what the future holds, it is an unprecedented body blow.
