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SYDNEY /CANBERRA - Prime Minister John Howard has survived a Liberal Party meeting without any challenge to his leadership.
Mr Howard is understood to have told his party that he intends to fight on and lead the government to the next election.
The meeting was continuing.
Speculation that powerful forces within the ruling Liberal Party wanted his head as a last-ditch attempt to salvage what appears a doomed Government was yesterday refuelled by reports that two of his staunchest supporters wanted him to quit.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, the man likely to become deputy to heir-apparent Peter Costello if Howard departed, and Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull were reported by Sky TV to have advised the Prime Minister to go.
Both have denied the report, and Howard struck back in characteristic fashion during a press conference with visiting Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper, warning that he would fight any attempt to depose him.
While there is a strong bloc within the Liberals which believes that Howard is a dead man walking who will take the Government down with him, few would want a bitter leadership fight on the eve of an election the polls already predict will be won by a Labor landslide.
Treasurer Costello, who backed away from a direct challenge when Howard ended his hopes of a smooth ride to leadership last year by declaring his intention to run for a fifth term, would be unlikely to force a duel now.
Howard has also moved to end speculation that he has been panicked into an early election, rejecting expectation that he would announce the contest within the week. He instead said the present two-week session of Parliament would run its course, a move that would allow him to regain some perception of control and enable the Government to open a final parliamentary attack on Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd.
But a new ACNeilsen poll in Fairfax newspapers on Monday continued the unbroken run of bad news for Howard since Rudd became Labor Leader late last year.
Adding to similar predictions last week by Newspoll and Morgan pollsters, ACNeilsen gave Labor a 14 percentage point lead over the Government in the two-party preferred vote that determines elections under the system of preferential voting. Rudd led Howard as preferred Prime Minister by 52 per cent to Howard's 39 per cent.
A further blow came yesterday from the market forces Howard promotes. Gaming agency Lasseters Sportsbook suspended betting on the election because of the leadership turmoil, following trends that had seen the odds on a Government victory slide from A$2.60 to A$2.75 and Labor firm from A$1.50 to A$1.45.
"If the Prime Minister is to get the tap on the shoulder then Kevin Rudd may as well get his keys cut for The Lodge [the official prime ministerial residence in Canberra]," Lasseters sports betting manager Gerard Daffy said. "Where there's smoke there's fire and we aren't prepared to get burnt in the process."
Howard has been further damaged by Monday's surprise resignation of Queensland's Labor Premier, Peter Beattie, and the earlier departure of Victorian counterpart Steve Bracks. Both men are aged 54 and resigned at the peak of their careers, in contrast to 68-year-old Howard, who rejected the option to resign as a Liberal hero and now faces ignominious defeat.
"Whether I'm 68 or 48, that's immaterial," Howard told the Seven network. "It's what I have to offer: The energy, the ideas and the enthusiasm." But polls have repeatedly reflected the view that Howard is a tired leader who has passed his use-by date.
Last night AAP reported Downer acknowledged that ministers had been considering the leadership, but now backed Howard.
"We have just reaffirmed the view that I've had all along, that John Howard is the best person to lead our country, and therefore the best person to lead our party, into the election," Downer told Sky. "We have obviously been a bit concerned about our position and thought about it and discussed it."
- AAP
