Right-wing powerbroker Bernie Ripoll has warned Kevin Rudd's backers to stop wrecking the Labor Party, telling the "happy little vegemite" to back off for the good of his colleagues.

Speculation over the Labor leadership is reaching fever pitch, with senior ministers queuing up to pledge allegiance to Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the face of an expected challenge from the former prime minister.

This morning right-wing factional convenor Mr Ripoll told ABC Radio National he had had enough.

"We've all had a gutful," Mr Ripoll, who once shared a Canberra flat with Mr Rudd, said.

"You don't have the support, you don't have the numbers.

"I've had enough of this and I know other caucus members have had enough of this.

"This death by a thousand cuts needs to stop and give us an opportunity to be able to fight over the next two years to retain government."

Mr Ripoll, who is the member for Oxley in Queensland, said the federal infighting is also spoiling Labor's chances in the March 24 Queensland election.

"What needs to happen immediately is that the small band of disloyals in the ALP need to stop doing what they are doing which is wrecking the party," he said.

And, seemingly in reference to Mr Rudd's statement that he was a "happy little vegemite" on Four Corners earlier this month, Mr Ripoll warned that if the destabilisation continued, those responsible ought to resign.

"If somebody, anybody, is not a happy little vegemite, they ought to go find something else to do," he said.

Sorry, this video has expired Shorten throws his support behind Gillard

Last night Bill Shorten became the latest senior Labor minister to pledge his support for Ms Gillard.

Speaking on ABC TV's Q&A program last night, Mr Shorten said he thought Mr Rudd was doing a good job as Foreign Minister and characterised the push to return him to his old job as "a real distraction."

"I think the very clear majority of Government MPs support the Prime Minister," he said.

"For the same reasons I supported her in June 2010 and now, she is the best person for the job.

"She is the person who is strong. She's getting on with business.

"We had a lot of issues to fix up in the last 18 months. She's had to negotiate legislation through a hung parliament, a minority government, and what she's managed to do is quite remarkable."

This morning Greens leader Bob Brown said Ms Gillard had "got the runs on the board" when it came to policy, and said she needed to be able to get on with the job.

"It's not just people having had a gutful within the party but it's out there all over the place," he said.

Senator Brown said he would negotiate with whoever leads the Labor Party, but urged Julia Gillard to assert her authority.

"She's got the backing of the majority of her party and she needs to assert that," he told Radio National.

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And he echoed predictions that the leadership battle would be resolved next week when Parliament resumes.

One Labor MP, frustrated by escalating leadership speculation, has offered to get a tattoo declaring his support for Ms Gillard.

David Bradbury, who holds the marginal Sydney seat of Lindsay, said newspaper reports listing him as an undecided vote in a leadership ballot were false.

"In relation to each of those articles, not one journalist has asked me for my view," he said.

"Both privately and publicly I have stated that I support the Prime Minister.

"I don't know what I have to do to go beyond that - if it means getting a tattoo I'd consider it, but somehow I think my wife might object to that."

Mr Bradbury, who also holds his seat with a slim margin, cited the political maxim that "disunity is death".

"Frankly there is no reason why there shouldn't be complete unity behind the Prime Minister," he said.

"I think she has the overwhelming support of her colleagues in fact I am certain that is the case."

He pledged his support while standing next to Ms Gillard at a press conference about school funding, during which she brushed aside questions about the leadership as a distraction.

"Of course I'd prefer that we were in a situation where the only focus was this important national debate," she said.

"I enjoy the strong support of my colleagues.

However, she said had spoken yesterday to Victorian backbencher Darren Cheeseman, who holds Labor's most marginal seat and on the weekend called for Ms Gillard to resign and hand back the job to Mr Rudd.

"I did speak to Darren yesterday and that's a private conversation and I'll keep it private," she said.