It's obvious Graham Richardson doesn't like Kevin Rudd. He made a scathing attack on him in his column today, accusing the former PM of being expert at undermining leaders. Pretty harsh words but he suggests he did it with Mark Latham and Kim Beazley and also Julia Gillard at the last election. And he's pretty sure Rudd doesn't have the numbers for a leadership challenge because he doesn't have "able lieutenants" and a "factional base" to work with.
He says that Julia Gillard came from the "soft Left" and that's where most of Rudd's support is coming from. With Labor's popularity falling to an all-time low, it's obvious many MP's are scared witless about losing their jobs and are looking to Rudd as a possible saviour.
The PM is asking them to hold their nerve, that it will all turn around in time, but they aren't listening. Richo calls them the "jilted lover faction" - those passed over when the PM chose her team and the MP's unlikely to be pre-selected again. People like Alan Griffin and Mark Bishop are stirring them up, constantly talking about a Kevin Rudd return.
But there's a big problem if they do decide on giving Rudd a second chance, how would he handle the independents? They seem to have struck up a personal friendship with Julia Gillard and there's no guarantee they would work with Rudd and if just one pulls the plug, it's all over.
Richardson was born in Sydney in 1949, his father Fred was the state secretary of the Postal Workers' Union. He was elected to the Senate at age 33 and went into Bob Hawke's Cabinet as Environment Minister when he was 37.
He's a man with many friends from both sides of politics and his insider political gossip is irresistible. His career in the media seems to have taken off, he now has his own one-hour television show on Sky.
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