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Former Australia oppn leader savages his own party

Posted on: Monday, 19 September 2005, 02:12 CDT

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."

Source: REUTERS

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