Hello Julia, my name is Kevin... I'm here to help. Kevin Rudd has offered to tour Labor's Queensland battleground electorates with Julia Gillard in a sign of solidarity. Source: The Courier-Mail
KEVIN Rudd says he will tour Labor's Queensland battleground with Julia Gillard in a sign that the former leader is in lock-step with the woman he has tried to topple as Prime Minister.
"If the Prime Minister wishes me to campaign with her in seats in Queensland I am more than happy to do that - if she judges that to be appropriate," Mr Rudd told The Courier-Mail last night.
"Politics is one of those things where you get to a point, there's a resolution and you move on and that's what we're doing."
Mr Rudd pointed to the seats of Moreton, Dickson, Brisbane, Flynn, Herbert and Dawson as key battlegrounds - and he says he will tour all of them with Ms Gillard if she so chooses.
Mr Rudd's popularity in Queensland is well known, with The Courier-Mail/Galaxy Poll last month showing that his return to the top job would see Labor win the majority of Queensland seats.
It has also emerged that Mr Rudd sent Simon Crean a text message on Thursday morning urging him to consult with him before publicly instigating a leadership contest.
"Gidday Simon. I'm told you saw the PM last night," the message, believed to have been sent at 9.20am, reads. "If that's so and if it in anyway touches the leadership, and if you are making any public comments, please give me a call beforehand. My position is as before. All the best. Kevin."
HOLD ON: Kevin Rudd's text message to Simon Crean on the day of the disastrous ALP spill call.
Labor sources have said Mr Rudd was "surprised, stunned and disappointed" with Mr Crean's decision to call for a spill without consulting him.
It is believed the Member for Griffith met Mr Crean on Monday and Tuesday to discuss policy problems, but the conversation quickly turned to leadership questions and Mr Crean making clear his ambition to run for deputy leader should a vote occur.
Mr Rudd told Mr Crean he could not support such a move.
He learned of the possibility of Mr Crean's hour-and-a-half meeting with the Prime Minister on Wednesday night before heading to bed, texting him in the morning when more information became available. After receiving no reply, a call was made to Mr Crean's office that went unanswered.
At a press conference at Kangaroo Point yesterday, Mr Rudd said he was faced with clear defeat had he decided to contest the leadership.
"There was no significant majority (on Thursday) - in fact, there was no majority there at all," he said.
Kevin Rudd calls for party to unite behind Julia Gillard amid the ALP rubble. Cartoon: Leahy, March 23, 2013
He consulted, at various times, Chris Bowen, Anthony Albanese, Joel Fitzgibbon, Alan Griffin, Kim Carr and Richard Marles.
Mr Rudd told reporters yesterday that each told him the prospects of securing a majority was effectively "zero".
"Each of them said to me, 'Kevin, I believe you should not run because it would divide the party'."
Mr Bowen and Mr Carr resigned yesterday, becoming the latest casualties of Labor's political disaster.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is under pressure to convince voters she can heal her bitterly divided party amid worsening fallout from the botched leadership spill.
