Rip it up and start again

摘要

When Mark Latham led Australia's opposition Labor Party to its fourth successive election defeat on October 9th, his fortunes seemed to have hit a low point. Not so: they were about to fall lower. Over the next two weeks, as Mr Latham faced the daunting task of rebuilding Labor for yet another tilt at power, no fewer than six of his senior parliamentary colleagues announced that they were no longer prepared to serve in his shadow cabinet. The man in whom Labor had vested so much hope when it elected him party leader only ten months ago was suddenly facing a full-blown crisis over his own political future.