| The Australian
ULIA Gillard did not need to think twice when approached by powerbrokers.
WHEN Julia Gillard was offered the Labor leadership by right-wing factional powerbrokers on Wednesday morning, she barely blinked.
MPs who orchestrated the leadership coup knew she would be a candidate if they could deliver the votes. Those close to her say she was not hamstrung by a sense of loyalty to Kevin Rudd because she had come to the view that his prime ministership "was a failure", as one MP put it.
She knew she was better than Rudd. She thought she was the only one who could beat Tony Abbott. It is this absolute and uncompromising self-confidence that defines Gillard.
She is self-assured but can also laugh at herself. She can be flirtatious. She also can communicate the most complex ideas simply. She knows she's smart but doesn't seek to make those around her feel inferior.
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The woman commonly described as the most talented player in Australian politics was acutely aware she would be making history by seizing the Labor leadership from a first-term and popularly elected prime minister.
As soon as she realised she had the necessary numbers in caucus, she pounced. This feat is a political masterstroke without precedent.
One Labor frontbencher describes her political skills as "beyond belief": "I have never seen a more effective, more skilful, more persuasive political leader. She is extraordinary."
As Australia's first female Prime Minister, Gillard has relentlessly pursued her ambition for high office by carefully bringing her colleagues with her by nurturing them, listening to them and, as one frontbencher says, "making them feel very special".
She has pointedly avoided being a feminist poster girl because she saw Labor women such as Carmen Lawrence, Cheryl Kernot and Joan Kirner trip up when given power at the worst of times.
Yesterday, Gillard was again careful to distance herself from any feminist symbolism by arguing her pursuit of power has been about fairness and hard work, not smashing the glass ceiling.
As a member of Labor's Victorian left faction, she has broken political convention and become Prime Minister without changing factional allegiances. She didn't need to join the Right because the Right ultimately needs her to win. One MP says her success has been to dissociate herself from the Left while remaining a member.
"She's not right-wing or left-wing, she's just a pragmatist, she'll do anything it takes to win."
Labor MPs are shell-shocked by the speed of the move on Rudd, and bowled over by Gillard's brazen decision to challenge.
Most MPs tell The Australian that Gillard's naked ambition and single-minded determination explain her reaction to the factional bosses who offered her the leadership on a platter.
But overwhelmingly they say it was Gillard's unique style, charisma and plain talking that won her the leadership; that and her connection to the electorate.
Labor parliamentary secretary Laurie Ferguson - who was saved by Gillard last year when she orchestrated his preselection in a safe seat - describes her as the most gutsy politician he has seen.
He tells a story about her staring down angry Labor members in a left-wing faction meeting at the ALP's national conference, after she presented a more right-leaning immigration policy as opposition spokeswoman.
"She took on the whole room, it was extraordinary. they were yelling at her, she just kept going and pulled it off," he says.
"That typifies why I supported her. She's courageous and unwavering. In that room she was virtually on her own, she had the support of 10 per cent.
"She never worries that the world is against her."
Another frontbencher says Gillard's style as a minister has impressed her colleagues. Unlike Rudd, who treated many MPs as if they were "useless and stupid", Gillard makes them feel the opposite.
"She has handpicked backbenchers and given them things to work on, picking up on their expertise. That's the sort of stuff that builds trust and goodwill. It also means you are more likely to get their vote when you want it."
As poll after poll revealed Rudd had lost his shine, Gillard appeared to stay the most loyal of deputies. Crucially, she was not seen to undermine Rudd, and this won her a huge amount of kudos within Labor ranks.
But behind the scenes she was making it clear she thought things were just not working.
Her undermining of Rudd, as one senior MP puts it, was "manipulative but subtle".
"She never walked around rallying for numbers, she let others do it for her, but she thrived on it, she knew it was going on."
That Gillard was seen as a serious alternative in Labor's first term of government - even after Rudd's emphatic win in 2007 - is testimony to her work behind closed doors. Unlike Rudd, she has the party in her corner.
Gillard is a creature of the ALP, she understands its factions, its power plays and the game that must be played.
She also knows how to make friends and keep enemies at bay.
Gillard's popularity within federal Labor has been building since the government was elected. While she delivered Rudd half the votes that helped roll former opposition leader Kim Beazley, insiders on the Left and Right concede her numbers have swelled since then. The biggest shift has been among those who voted for Beazley at the 2006 leadership spill, who disliked Gillard at the time but have since been warming to her.
One frontbencher says part of that slow shift can be directly attributed to her style and the respectful manner in which she treats her colleagues. The frontbencher says where Rudd alienated himself from his back bench, Gillard has been building relationships.
The frontbencher says Rudd ignored people, never gave them a moment of his time, then tried to appease them by putting his arm around them as he walked out of question time.
But he says Gillard works with backbenchers, she gives them jobs and she listens to their advice.
In many ways Rudd and Gillard play roles opposite to John Howard and Peter Costello. In the Howard government, it was Howard who made time for backbenchers and listened to their concerns. The biggest criticism of Costello was that, like Rudd, he had a closed door and angered many who could have been brought into his tent.
Another Labor frontbencher says Rudd is surprised by how much those who were once hostile to Gillard have shifted. People who once hated her have changed.
But while most MPs are singing her praises (she is, after all, their new boss), some are angry that she allowed Rudd's control and centralisation to go haywire.
Gillard has been one of the so-called gang of four with Rudd, Lindsay Tanner and Wayne Swan that had largely replaced cabinet in the decision-making process.
"She should have stood up to Rudd and said this is wrong," according to this frontbencher. Others say she has been doing exactly that, but more subtly.
"She was deputy, there's not much she could really do," one of her supporters says.
Gillard's rise can be traced back to the days in opposition when she, as a left-wing minister, negotiated a more hardline position against illegal boat arrivals in the most difficult political circumstances.
Once Labor took office in 2007, she was entrusted with the two key portfolios. As well as being deputy prime minister, the former lawyer was given responsibility for industrial relations, winding back the Howard government's Work Choices legislation and delivering the "education revolution".
Her talents made people take notice. Senior public servants found life easier when she was running the country.
After two years battling to get answers out of the Prime Minister's Office, some departmental chiefs took to holding on to government briefs until Rudd was away.
Gillard is a star of the Victorian Left and excelled in opposition as Labor's immigration and health spokeswoman.
After three years in law firm Slater & Gordon, she became the first woman to be offered a salaried partnership by the firm.
She also worked as chief of staff to Victoria's then opposition leader John Brumby.
Gillard is unmarried and childless, something that was once seen as a negative, but she has managed to make it seem absolutely meaningless. She was in a long-term relationship with union official Michael O'Connor and Small Business Minister Craig Emerson.
Emerson now sits on the front bench with her, and they are understood to have a good working relationship.
Her present relationship with hairdresser Tim Mathieson goes back six years.
Yesterday, when she arrived for her first press conference as Prime Minister, she did not walk in holding his hand. Most new prime ministers walk in with their partners and children. But Gillard walked in with Wayne Swan, the new Deputy Prime Minister.
Gillard's record in the ALP is strong but not unblemished. She remained friends with former leader Mark Latham after he dumped on his colleagues following the 2004 election.
In 2006, Gillard staged a leadership coup with Rudd to knock off Beazley.
During the present term, she has been protected from criticism over waste in government programs, including the trouble-plagued Building the Education Revolution schools stimulus program, while the opposition focused on Rudd and Environment Minister Peter Garrett.
But her management of the BER crisis also showed political mastery unmatched in federal politics. By establishing a taskforce to investigate claims of corruption, Gillard looks as if she is prepared to take action and mitigate damage.
Yesterday she appeared modest and hardworking. She says she will live in her Canberra flat rather than move into the Lodge.
She talked about her family, and about hard work.
"I grew up in the great state of South Australia. I grew up in a home of hardworking parents. They taught me the value of hard work. They taught me the value of respect. They taught me the value of doing your bit for the community," she says.
Almost since Labor was elected, Gillard's impressive parliamentary performance shone a light on Rudd's weaknesses.
Now, the understudy who always seemed to steal the show finally gets the lead role.
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