Leo finally wants to roar and win his own general election mandate

THE manouvere that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar pulled on Fianna Fáil this week was straight out of the latter’s own playbook on how to treat your political enemies, writes Alison O’Connor.

Fine Gael portray themselves as being above the grubby political behaviour of the Fianna Fáil upstarts. Over the years, though, when something happened, like a dreadful general election performance, Fine Gael would look across the Dáil chamber and wonder at their own inability to be ruthless when the occasion called for it.

Now, that political ground is shifting. Leo has abandoned the niceties, and is bullying Fianna Fáil in the playground. Might we go so far as to describe it as political emotional abuse?