There was no mistaking the danger the Gillard government faced yesterday.
That there is someone inside the government, someone “close to home”, who is leaking damaging allegations to the media, brought intrigue and treachery to the election campaign. It wreaked havoc with the political messages Labor has been transmitting for the past two weeks.
The allegation that the Prime Minister spoke out in Cabinet against pension increases and the parental leave plan fed into the most damaging impression of all, that she is not what she seems.
It is especially dangerous because it’s the very same allegation that hovered around Kevin Rudd before Gillard deposed him a month ago.