Crean tells PM to lift her game

Julia Gillard during a heated Question Time yesterday. Picture: Kym Smith Source: News Limited

• Julia Gillard faces the most crucial 24 hours of her leadership
• Simon Crean has told Labor ''the stalemate has to end''
• Holes appear in Abbott's account
• Labor buried pro-Kevin Rudd polling

JULIA Gillard has woken up to another day of drama, after revelations Labor polling taken on the eve of Kevin Rudd's political assassination revealed a rebound for the overthrown PM.

Get all the latest updates by following our rolling coverage below

10am: Simon Crean is holding a press conference

A defiant Simon Crean has fronted a media pack, publicly telling Labor ''the stalemate has to end''

''I have said publicly that people have to pull back, they have to unify because it is killing us in my view, the disunity, it has never been a good thing, it's got to end,'' he said.

And he rejected reports Kevin Rudd is preparing to challenge the PM.

''Kevin Rudd's said time and time again he's not challenging - why are his backers promoting him?,'' he said.

Mr Crean refuted speculation he and Kevin Rudd are plotting to overthrow Julia Gillard.

''No, Kevin Rudd hasn't asked me to be Deputy Prime Minister. I deny that,'' he told reporters.

''I haven't got the numbers and I'm honest enough to admit that.

Simon Crean told reporters that that Labor party needs to end the stalemate over the leadership and present voters with a united front. Picture: Sky News Source: News Limited

9.46am: Asked about the leadership speculation, Simon Crean told reporters: ''This is a situation on which the party needs to get its act together, the stalemate has to end.

''The party has to focus on the future.''

Asked about Kevin Rudd, he said: '' If Kevin Rudd had the numbers he would have challenged.''

Mr Crean reiterated his support for the PM

''I support the leader,'' he said.

9.40am: Crean-Rudd plot to topple Gillard

Simon Crean is believed to be in discussions with key backers of Kevin Rudd to serve as his deputy on a joint leadership ticket.

Sources in the Rudd camp confirmed a deal was being brokered which could see Mr Crean back Mr Rudd to take back the leadership and serve as deputy prime minister.

Julia Gillard is also believed to have lost the support of another key Ministerial backer overnight.

Senior Rudd supporters this morning confirmed there had been ''movement'' late yesterday.

However, they were still trying to convince Mr Rudd to put his hand up.

''Simon is the big shift,'' a senior minister confirmed this morning.

- Simon Benson

9.30am: Fitzgibbon 'doesn't have the PM's back'

A LABOR MP has called on chief government whip Joel Fitzgibbon to resign if the day ends without a successful leadership challenge against Julia Gillard.

Queensland backbencher Graham Perrett said this morning it was the job of the chief whip to ''have the Prime Minister's back'' and given his comments yesterday he and other Kevin Rudd supporters should ''resign or resign'' come 5pm today.

''If he can't be loyal to the Prime Minister he needs to resign,'' Mr Perrett said.

Mr Fitzgibbon, a Kevin Rudd backer, yesterday gave an interview about the leadership speculation and said it would be ''silly" to suggest nothing was going on.

But he denied numbers were being counted.

- Lanai Scarr

9.20am: Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne taunted Kevin Rudd, saying he had made a mockery of Ms Gillard and Labor since losing the leadership in 2010.

''I think if Kevin Rudd had the numbers he'd have used them by now,''' Mr Pyne told reporters in Canberra.

''That's what we do in politics.''

Kevin Rudd looking relaxed during Question Time yesterday. Picture: Kym Smith Source: News Limited

9am: Backers of Julia Gillard and her predecessor Kevin Rudd are this morning rallying support within a restive Labor caucus amid intense media speculation of another leadership challenge.

The Gillard camp insists the PM still enjoys majority support within caucus while supporters of Mr Rudd suggest he has 49 votes, three short of a majority, with nine MPs undecided.

8.45am: Columnist Andrew Bolt writes Julia Gillard isn't just leading Labor to defeat. She is stripping the party of honour, leaving it with a legacy of shame.

8.30am: Kevin Rudd has emerged as the clear leader in our survey of our readers' most preferred Labor leader, with Julia Gillard coming an emphatic last.

Mr Rudd scored 53.8 per cent of the primary ''first choice'' vote - with Julia Gillard scoring 49 per cent as the ''least preferred'' choice.

Simon Crean was safely ensconced in third place.

Bob Carr and Stephen Smith appear to have a lot to do to capture the public's imagination.

The survey was taken by 15,811 readers.

8.20am: Independent MP Tony Windsor has warned federal Labor is heading for oblivion if the party's leadership crisis is not resolved quickly.

Mr Windsor, who has supported the minority Gillard government since the 2010 election, is clearly frustrated by the latest internal wrangle.

''It's a one-way street to oblivion,'' he told ABC Radio this morning when asked whether the Labor leadership needed to be settled quickly.

8am:  Labor polling taken on the eve of Kevin Rudd's political assassinationrevealed a rebound for the overthrown PM, an exclusive News Limited report revealed today.

The polling, which suggested Labor could still have won an election in 2010 under Mr Rudd's leadership, was kept a secret from him, most senior ministers and the majority of the Labor caucus for fear it could have unravelled plans for the coup already under way.

The secret polling also contradicts the official Labor research used at the time to convince MPs to replace Mr Rudd.

7.20am: Meanwhile, Tony Abbott is in the spotlight again for the wrong reason. Allegations he punched the wall either side of university rival Barbara Ramjan in 1977 are backed up today in journalist David Marr's new extended book version of his Quarterly Essay: Political Animal by a mystery man claiming to be a witness.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott during Question Time yesterday. Picture: Kym Smith Source: News Limited

 7am: With Federal Parliament to sit today for the last scheduled session before the May 14 Budget, chief government whip Joel Fitzgibbon last night appeared to start a countdown for a leadership change, saying it was a ''silly concept" that Labor could make a switch between the Budget and the September 14 election.

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