Kevin Rudd has temporarily held off a leadership challenge from Julia Gillard tonight by invoking the rarely used ‘Barley’ rule.
Julia Gillard, backed by an alleged majority support of party members, was urged to challenge Kevin Rudd to save Labor from possible defeat at the next election after a series of disasterous polls.
Ms Gillard, 48, approached Mr Rudd, 52, at 8.45pm this evening in his office.
As she began to declare her intention to challenge for the Leadership of the Labor Party and position of Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Rudd immediately ran from his office, screaming “Fingers crossed! Barley! Barley! I’m safe! I said it first! Barley!” as tears streamed from his eyes and he disappeared into the night.
Political commentators were astounded by Mr Rudd’s defensive move, suggesting that he was well prepared for this leadership challenge from Ms Gillard.
“We haven’t heard of the Barley rule being used in over 40 years, when Harold Holt used it to fend off a leadership challenge from John McEwen,” said Enrico Polazzo, Head of Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne.
“Technically speaking, Harold Holt is still the Prime Minister of Australia, because the Barley Rule doesn’t expire. All Prime Ministers since then have been nothing more than care-takers. It’s a brilliant strategic move by Rudd, and could ultimately save his job.”
The party leadership vote, originally planned by Julia Gillard for 9am tomorrow, has been postponed until Mrs Rudd says Kevin can come out and play again.
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