It's Time for a change

We can count down the hours until Kevin Rudd takes over the Labor leadership and the party gives itself a chance of winning the next election. The Sunday papers were already hinting heavily that Rudd was the likely winner, and the desperate desire for a clear result means that some of the wavering Beazley backers will come to support Rudd. Look for a win of at least 10 votes.

Its worth remembering that even when he was elected Labor leader (again) in January 2005, Beazley was there primarily to steady things after the instability of the Latham era, and not to contest the next election. There was a good reason for him stepping down after the 2001 election - he was tired, people were bored with him, and he had two electoral losses to his name - and these things all held true in 2005.

The plan at the time was for Beazley to settle things down and then allow one of Latham's generation to assume the leadership close to the next election. Ideally, this would have happened earlier, probably at this time last year, but the absense of a clear successor to Beazley until now meant that it didn't happen.

Surely Beazley was aware that the party had turned to him as a boring-but-stable option, and that he wasn't the right option in the long term. Somehow he got a little too comfortable in the leader's chair.

So long, Bomber, but you always knew it was coming.

Rudd and friends
Rudd meets with the Labor caucus


UPDATE 4/12, 5:05pm: Do I win a prize?

Comments

Anonymous said…
you picked it in one you win the tattslotto ticket fan club
4 December 2006 at 18:11
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