No. But he should have. The election is unwinnable and he is just prolonging the pain.
Howard said that he would go when the party told him it was time to go. So he asked, and they told him, and now he's still here.
Seems this is another 'non-core' promise. But people don't like being lied to, and this really is the end. Howard will be gone by the end of the year.
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Even if JH resigns I doubt whether the coalition would stay in power. Given that this is the case, having Costello as PM for a couple of months seems rather silly and would actually harm the guy's future prospects as leader.
So I think JH is probably taking it on the chin for the party, rather than just being stubborn. Those who want Costello as PM would've preferred Costello to have a few years of Prime Ministership behind him to properly compete. This being the case, even the pro-Costello forces would've said no, let's wait until 2009/2010 so Costello can run properly (and act as opposition leader).
Interesting though - if Rudd was PM and Costello opposition leader, would that be the first time two born-again Christians occupied those two offices in Australian history?
Rudd's a Roman Catholic. Would he say that he's born again?
Sorry, correction, raised a Roman Catholic but attends an Anglican church. Calls himself a "Christian socialist".
But born again? I've not heard him talk in those terms.
I understand that Rudd is high Anglican and that his wife is Catholic. I strongly doubt that Rudd would be comfortable with the term "born again".
I thought he wrote a piece in The Briefing. Doesn't that have some level of kudos attached to it ie "must be okay"?
Of course!
But he didn't write a piece for the Briefing.
Don't write Howard off yet. The polls tell everyone he will lose a presidential Howard v Rudd election. Time to change the game. Now its about team Howard & Costello (& others) v team Rudd & Gillard (& others). If the electorate is happy to play this game you would have to think that the Coalition stands a much better chance. There are A LOT of seats the ALP has to win. Might this be the strategy that lets Howard win - it is a risky throw of the dice. You'd have to think it makes it harder for him to win Bennelong?
I thought that every elected member of the federal Liberal party got to decide what was the best interests of the party, not just the results of a cabinet meeting without four Howard supporters attending.
But then again, maybe I am wrong on this one.
In the world of informal polling, Pete, I reckon all such rules are off. Especially when the informal polling is initiated by the man who wants to know what his friends are thinking, and asks his friend to ask his friends.
JH will be able to shelter behind the (true) statement that his party are now publicly 100% behind the idea that he is their preferred leader.
But the story that Alexander Downer was asked by JH to find out what his party wanted, and received the message back 'time to go', is now out there.
If it's true, you have a majority of influential individuals in the party who are now variously scared, angry, appalled and in the case of some, feeling that they have been lied to.
The feeling that they —and we— have been lied to will be the one that the public will remember and the Labor people will talk up.
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