Rudd to Challenge Gillard for Australian Leadership in Vote

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he will challenge his successor Julia Gillard in a Feb. 27 leadership ballot as the ruling Labor party seeks to end weeks of rivalry that’s undermining the government.

“Julia has lost the trust of the Australian people,” Rudd, who quit as foreign minister earlier this week, told reporters today in Brisbane. “I want to finish the job the Australian people elected me to do.”