KEY POINTS:
'The Bomber' has flown his last mission. Ousted Labor leader Kim Beazley, who earned the nickname during his term as defence minister, now has nowhere to go in politics except out.
Once seen as the shining hope to re-take power after former Prime Minister Paul Keating's drubbing by Liberal incumbent John Howard, Beazley led Labor to two crushing defeats.
He hobbled back into the leadership last year after the meteoric rise and fall of former leader Mark Latham, largely because the party had no one else as a credible candidate.
The pain of yesterday's fall, deepened by the news of his brother David's death, was clear as he tearfully conceded defeat to new leader Kevin Rudd. "I wanted to stay and finish the job, but that was not to be," he said.
Beazley, an intelligent and eloquent politician and an accomplished minister, failed to connect with voters despite a family tradition and long experience.
Born in Perth in 1948 to Labor MP and Whitlam Government minister Kim Beazley snr, Beazley gained a masters degree at Oxford - where he befriended future British Prime Minister Tony Blair - and was a university lecturer until winning the marginal seat of Swan in 1980.
Close to fellow West Australian Bob Hawke, Beazley rose within the Labor Government that wrested power from Liberal Malcolm Fraser in 1983.
He was successively minister for aviation, defence, communications, finance, employment and finance again, surviving in Cabinet despite his support for Hawke in the bitter battle that saw former Treasurer Paul Keating become Prime Minister.
He was the only viable choice as leader after Keating was crushed by Howard, and returned the party's faith by pushing Labor close to victory in 1998.
At the following election an early lead in the polls was hammered by the dramatic events surrounding the boat people trapped aboard the Norwegian freighter Tampa, and Howard's subsequent and effective scare campaign on national security.
Humbled, Beazley moved to the backbenches as Simon Crean took leadership, plotting for a return to power but losing to Latham in the run-up to the last election.
But almost two years after replacing Latham, Beazley is contemplating a new future, telling reporters:"I'd have to be Lazarus with a quadruple bypass to make another comeback in the Labor Party after this defeat."
Who:
Aged 58.
Married with three children.
Learned after the vote that his younger brother David, 53, had died.
Nickname Bomber.
Earlier career:
Master of arts degree, University of Western Australia; master of philosophy degree, Oxford.
Lecturer, Murdoch University, Perth.
Parliament:
Elected MP for Swan, Western Australia, 1980.
Successively minister for aviation, defence, transport and communications, finance, employment and finance again.
Labor leader, 1996-2001, 2005-06.
Lost two elections to John Howard.
Yesterday was the third time he had lost a party vote for the leadership (the others were to Simon Crean and Mark Latham).
Deputy:
Jenny Macklin.
Beazley said:
"For me to do anything further in the Australian Labor Party, I'd have to be Lazarus with a quadruple bypass."
"Kevin is a very able man, a very intelligent man, with a very wide base of knowledge and an absolute determination to do the right thing for the Australian people. He will be a very good leader. He will take us to victory at the next election." "Family is everything."
