Gratuitous advice from Labor and ‘less important’ promises.

I have commented before on the habit of the Labor Party of giving helpful advice to those who have no interest in it, and this is no exception. The Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner seems to be so disappointed at not having the chance to go toe to toe with the former Treasurer Peter Costello, he wants him disqualified from the leadership of the Liberal Party.

Peter Costello should be disqualified from ever taking on the Liberal leadership, Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner says.

Speculation about the former treasurer's ambitions flared again last week after the government accused him of launching a personal website to coincide with the federal budget.

The former treasurer should be barred from the leadership because he didn't step up when the party needed him most, Mr Tanner said.

He did not have the "intestinal fortitude" to lead the party after the election loss.

"(And) what he's trying to do now is let (opposition leader) Malcolm Turnbull do all the hard yards in the hope that he, Peter Costello, can just cruise in at the last moment and take all the glory," Mr Tanner told Network Ten.

"I think that disqualifies him from any ambition to lead the nation."

Former PM John Howard made a comment yesterday and was accused of being the defacto leader of the Liberals by the same people who would without doubt adopt the same tactics against Costello if he stepped up to the plate in order to fuel leadership speculation and destabilize the opposition.

If Labor are concerned about leadership they should look to their own. Rudd claims that it is responsible to borrow unprecedented amounts of money and splurge it, even maintaining that it is “In the National interest.” Apparently the national interest consists of making Kevvy popular among those receiving all those $900 checks and keeping him in power.

Most politicians tend to be a little confused about what constitutes their own interests and what are those of the nation.

Meanwhile in Qld Anna Bligh has put aside her former outrage at John Howards concept of core and non-core promises, and adapted it to “Some guarantees are more important than others.”

This of course applies to such promises as “No new taxes,” made a few weeks ago in the lead up to the election which she claimed was necessary as she was the only all knowing person who could lead us out of the recession.

Funny how quickly things change after an election.