2/22/2012 2:50 AM ET
(RTTNews) - Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced his resignation early on Wednesday amid reports of a running feud between him and Prime Minister Julia Gillard on leadership of the ruling Labor Party.
Rudd announced his decision at a press conference in Washington DC, saying that he believed he no longer had the support of the Prime Minister. The surprise announcement came hours after Rudd held talks with his U.S. counterpart Hillary Clinton.
"The simple truth is that I cannot continue to serve as Foreign Minister if I don't have Prime Minister Gillard's support. I therefore believe the only honorable course of action is for me to resign," Rudd said.
Without disclosing whether he intended to challenge Gillard when he returns to Australia by the end of the week, Rudd insisted that he would not be involved in a "stealth attack on a sitting Prime Minister elected by the people."
"The truth is the Australian people regard this whole affair as little better than a soap opera and they are right. And under current circumstances, I won't be part of it," he said.
Rudd, who became the Foreign Minister after being toppled from premiership by Gillard in June 2010 in an internal party coup before the general election held later that year, said: "We all know that what happened then was wrong and it must never happen again."
Nevertheless, he said he would take a decision about his future course of action only after consulting his family members and community. The decision would be taken before the Parliament convened next week, he added.
Although Australian media has been speculating in recent months about an alleged move by party's senior ranks to replace Gillard with her predecessor, Rudd had earlier downplayed those reports stating that he was satisfied with the post of Foreign Minister.
The developments come as the popularity rating of Gillard was near record low, mostly due to her plans for imposing new carbon and mining taxes as well her policies to deal with the issue of large number of asylum seekers arriving on Australian shores by boat from Indonesia.
Despite these setbacks, Gillard has insisted that she will be the one to lead her party into the next general election due in 2013, stressing that Australians would "increasingly see the achievements of the government's agenda."
by RTT Staff Writer
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