So what was that all about? Kevin Rudd resigned as foreign minister because, he said, he did not have the support of his Prime Minister. He has now made it pretty clear that he did not have the support of his caucus colleagues either.

We will never be sure - because there was no vote last time - but it looks like he has even less support than when he was dumped back in June 2010.

"He will not change" ... Kevin Rudd sits on the backbench during Question Time yesterday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

If there were people against him last time who really thought he had changed, we did not hear from them. Instead, we got the shallow spin of former lobbyist Bruce Hawker.

Those ministers who came out for Rudd were largely the ones demoted by Gillard: Kim Carr, Chris Bowen and Robert McClelland. The only person of significance was a weepy Anthony Albanese (why is it Labor strongmen resort to tears on occasions like this?) and Albo had been the numbers man on the last occasion. He was not a convert to the ''new'' Kevin. He was the last man standing with the ''old'' Kevin.