Former Australia oppn leader savages his own party

By James Grubel

CANBERRA (Reuters) – Sick, dysfunctional, irreparably
broken and led by a man unfit to clean toilets — Australia’s
main opposition Labor Party has been thrown into disarray by a
trusted ex-leader now savaging his old comrades.

In a vitriolic new book, Mark Latham has taken a candid
look at Labor, saying it had a corrosive, rotten and
debilitating culture run by factional hacks and gossiping,
plotting and disloyal politicians.

Latham led the center-left party to defeat at the 2004
national elections and then quit politics in January 2005 after
suffering a second life-threatening attack of pancreatitis and
complaining he was sick of political betrayal.

Latham’s attacks attracted blanket media coverage in
Australia and were blamed for swings against Labor in three
weekend by-elections in New South wales, the nation’s most
populous state.

Labor and new leader Kim Beazley, who replaced Latham in
January, have struggled to make inroads against conservative
Prime Minister John Howard, who next March will notch up 10
years in power.

Latham’s attacks were so savage that Howard on Monday
defended his current political opponents, but said Labor was
suffering the consequences of electing Latham as leader in
December 2003.

“I think the Labor Party made a terrible mistake choosing
him; they knew what a temperamental person he was, they knew he
was a person who used personal vitriol. It’s now fully on
display and they are the target of it,” Howard told Australian
radio.

Known for his often crude language during his 11 years in
federal parliament — he once described U.S. President George
W. Bush as “dangerous and incompetent” and Howard as an
“arse-licker” — Latham has now turned his invective on Labor.

In his book, Latham attacks the media as “animals” and
“perverts,” but makes even more blunt assessments of his former
frontbench colleagues and Beazley, whom he accuses of a
long-running campaign to undermine him within the party.

“I wouldn’t make him a toilet cleaner in Parliament House,
let alone the leader of the opposition,” Latham told Australian
Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) television during a series of media
interviews.

He also dismisses his former deputy leader, Jenny Macklin,
who is now Beazley’s deputy, accusing her of being ineffective.

“Macklin is as useful as pockets in your underpants,”
Latham wrote.

Labor politicians have condemned the book as full of lies
and thrown their support behind Beazley, who says the party
will emerge stronger from the controversy despite suffering
from the initial wave of publicity.

“The good thing about how the party responded is there’s a
very considerable sense of unity and purpose about it and
determination not to keep being involved in navel gazing, we’ve
done enough of that,” Beazley told reporters on Monday.

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper said Latham had become
a classic Australian whinger, blaming everybody but himself for
Labor’s electoral problems.

“His fatal narcissism is on display for all to see. Mr
Latham’s lack of self-awareness is staggering,” the newspaper
said. “Mr Latham’s demise as a figure of political importance
is a tribute to the good sense of the Australian people.”