i think we can now safely say there will be NO challenge -------------
Kevin Rudd's backers have adopted a "play dead" strategy, calculating that any move on Julia Gillard before the end of next week could expose the Labor Government to a potentially lethal no-confidence motion.
The former prime minister's key ally Joel Fitzgibbon yesterday said leadership was "no longer an issue" and would not be revisited.
Mr Fitzgibbon, who quit as chief government whip in March after an aborted coup, said he doubted a delegation of senior Labor figures would approach Ms Gillard to demand she resign.
"I don't believe it's likely that anyone of any real serious capacity is going to be going along to the Prime Minister to make any such submission," he said.
"I don't know who is informing the press, but what I'm saying is that we dealt with that issue a few months ago."
Gillard backers are deeply suspicious of Mr Fitzgibbon and suspect the Rudd camp will attempt one more push late next week, fuelled by another Newspoll on Monday or Tuesday.
But a late switch to Mr Rudd while Parliament is still sitting has risks because of the Government's minority status. Without the independents' support, the Opposition could bring down the Government with a no-confidence motion.
This means if Labor resurrected Mr Rudd as leader, he may never get to properly exercise his new commission as prime minister.
MPs on both sides of politics - and both sides of the Rudd-Gillard tussle - are actively considering the constitutional implications of a Labor leadership change after Parliament rises for the last time next Thursday.
