The execution of Kevin Rudd was done quickly and efficiently overnight. Not since Andrew Peacock’s surprise coup against John Howard in 1989 has there been a political assassination this ruthless.

Rudd insisted last night he would stand for the leadership but already Rudd allies were saying before midnight the momentum was against him and he would struggle to be competitive, let alone fend off Gillard.  By this morning, it was apparent that Gillard was building a convincing majority. Rudd’s decision to save face and spare his party a contest will be one of the few grace notes of his leadership in recent weeks.

While there is talk of dire internal polling, Rudd’s leadership if anything seemed to recover slightly this week as Labor’s polling position stabilised and Rudd announced a win for the Government on the NBN, on the back of wins last week on parental leave.  However, revelations that his chief of staff Alister Jordan had been canvassing levels of support within Caucus appeared to become the focus for much of the anger and frustration amongst MPs toward Rudd and his office in recent weeks. Backbenchers spoke of being infuriated on learning that Jordan, rather than Rudd himself, had been contacting some MPs to ascertain whether they still supported Rudd.