Pretty much everyone by now would have heard about Albanese’s Latham jibe in parliament yesterday, unless of course you’ve been hiding under a rock, sick to death of petty political mud slinging and wishing like hell that someone would drop a gigantic cowpat on the lot of them (in which case you should just scroll down and read the snake thing).

For those of us still watching in bizarre fascination as Turnbull implodes and Rudd ascends new heights (depths?) of smugness, the Albanese crack was a shocker. Using an insult to one of their own departed leaders as a means of casting new doubt on Turnbull’s creditability? What the hell is that about?

Having just finished the Latham diaries, I found it doubly amusing, but not quite so inexplicable.

Anyone who believes (with some justification) that politicians are all venal, power hungry narcissists should take a look at the Mark Latham diaries – it’s paranoia soaked in vitriol and coated in self-justification, but it’s also a riveting exposé of the vicious behind-the-scenes power games that render the ALP so impotent when it comes to implementing actual policies. He also had some very revealing anecdotes about Kevin Rudd – written long before Rudd was touted as a possible Prime Minister – that show Rudd up as the self-satisfied, convictionless little media whore he has since proven himself to be.

Latham appeared to launch himself into politics with a naive belief that the ALP existed to change Australia for the better, that its driving force was to look after the workers and the poor and that it remained a shining embodiment of the Australian mateship ideal.

Despite his personal issues, Latham is an intelligent and well informed man, who held strong beliefs about the need for social change and economic responsibilities of government. Unlike many in the labour party, he also had at least the beginnings of clearly developed policies on how to achieve these things. The deep sense of grief and personal betrayal he felt when he discovered the full force of the nasty little back room machinations of ALP politics turned him a bit nutty and he doesn’t pull any punches in his description of Rudd, Swan, Albanese et al. It’s no wonder they have such a poisonous hatred of him, the last thing any of them want is for the voters to know exactly how little they care about issues and exactly how much they will compromise on principals to hang on to power. It is only surprising that they bought up his name in public because it might remind people of what he had to say about them.

Latham didn’t have the temperament for politics, the sort of man who could feel genuine sympathy for a suicidal rival and hold firm beliefs about the responsibilities of government was never going to survive in Canberra, but using his example as a means of denigrating the opposition demonstrates a particularly petty level of maliciousness that says as much about the labour leadership as Turnbull’s spectacular loss of judgement says about the liberal leadership.

I’d love to know what Latham himself has to say in response to the latest dig. Remember the “conga line of suckholes" comment? The only pollie I can remember with a better command of the English language was Paul Keating.

Bring on the cowpats folks, it’s about the only effective solution I can think of – and Mark, if you're listening, weigh in and sock it to ‘em, then take a nice long holiday in the Canary Islands, where no-one can select you for a ‘random’ tax audit!

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