Lenihan gets his nose ahead in the three-horse race to succeed Cowen

THE unofficial and undeclared contest to become the next leader of Fianna Fáil has taken more than a few twists and turns in recent weeks. There is no vacancy – as yet.

But it may be only a matter of time and quietly and subtly the contenders to replace Brian Cowen as leader have been positioning themselves. Brian Lenihan, Micheál Martin and Dermot Ahern are the clear contenders, although all would deny it.

There are some Fianna Fáil diehards who believe the Government can hang on until 2012 – which means Cowen would remain in situ until then at least – and that number has grown since Wednesday’s budget which has been relatively well received considering that it involved a massive €4 billion in cuts.