Hands-off warning as gloves come off as well

“She’s 100% committed. He’ll just have to target someone else.” It may still officially be a polite, cordial oh-so-Fine Gael leadership race, but there is no mistaking the fact the gloves are slowly coming off in the fight to become taoiseach.

After holding a 10-minute press briefing before his latest grassroots meeting in Cavan last night, Simon Coveney turned to junior health minister Marcella Corcoran Kennedy and put his arm firmly around her.

Encouraging photographers to take a picture of the scene, Mr Coveney insisted his supporter — who leadership rival Leo Varadkar cheekily suggested may want to switch sides hours earlier because of her interest in healthy living policies — will be going nowhere.