Downer says Rudd driven by need for fame

Former foreign minister Alexander Downer says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is driven by
a desire for fame and to be on TV, not by any political philosophy or policy
prescription.
Mr Downer, in an article in UK magazine The Spectator, has added to a succession of
recent prime ministerial character analyses, with his own tales of Mr Rudd's temper
and colourful language.
Mr Downer said no one doubted Kevin Rudd was bright and hard working, with a passion
for detail and who spoke a difficult foreign language.
But over the past 20 years, few, if any, MPs have been less popular than Kevin Rudd,
he said.
"All politicians are at the very least a trifle vain. They like to be the centre of
attention, to be in the media, to be consulted," he said in an article in the latest
edition of the UK magazine.
"There is barely an exception. All of them think they are a bit better than they
really are. Nearly all of them are ambitious, many furiously so. But on all of those
counts, no one in recorded Australian political history has ever exceeded Kevin
Rudd."
Mr Downer said a recent profile by journalist David Marr suggested Mr Rudd was
fascinated by power.
But he said he didn't feel comfortable with that thesis.
"Rudd wants fame. He wants to be on TV every night. He wants to be recognised
everywhere he goes," he said.
"He wants to be the centre of attention. That's why he casts people aside when he's
done with them, it's why he courts the media, it's why as a shadow minister he had
his staff film him making a statement and then sent it to TV stations.
"It wasn't because he wanted power, it was because he wanted to be on TV.
"Rudd never did believe in any political philosophy or policy prescriptions."
Mr Downer recounted an incident when he invited Mr Rudd, then Labor foreign affairs
spokesman, to travel to Jakarta with him aboard a VIP aircraft following the
September 2004 terrorist bombing.
But Mr Rudd wasn't happy with the arrangements and let fly with expletives according
to Mr Downer.
"The f***ing VIP plane wasn't going via Brisbane to pick him up. It f***ing had to,"
Mr Downer said, recounting Mr Rudd's comments .
"He ordered me to change its f***ing flight schedule," Mr Downer said.
An offer to book a commercial flight to connect to the VIP aircraft was not met with
grace.
"I am not, I crudely said, your f***ing travel agent. DFAT will help you," Mr Downer
responded.



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