Upset that he couldn't blow-dry his hair before a photo op in Afghanistan, Australian PM Kevin Rudd threw a...
Upset that he couldn't blow-dry his hair before a photo op in Afghanistan, Australian PM Kevin Rudd threw a...
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd "chucked a wobbly" because he couldn't blow-dry his hair before a photo shoot during a visit to frontline troops in Afghanistan, an opposition MP claims.
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hair apparent: The incident is alleged to have occurred when Kevin Rudd (centre) made a surprise visit to Australian troops in Afghanistan just before Christmas last year |
Rudd's office has labelled the allegations "laughable, ridiculous and completely untrue", but National Party MP John Cobb, who recently returned from Tarin Kowt, said rumours about the incident were rife among Defence Force personnel.
The incident is alleged to have occurred when Rudd made a surprise visit to Australian troops in Afghanistan just before Christmas last year.
"Some troops told me that when the PM was visiting them recently he chucked a wobbly because he couldn't blow-dry his hair," said Cobb.
"I can't remember whether it was because somebody forgot to bring one, or because the damn thing did not work or because he did not have the right connections. They were having a good giggle about it. I mean, these people are engaged in pretty serious occupations and he (Rudd) wanted to blow-dry his hair, but couldn't," said Cobb.
A spokesman for Rudd said Cobb's claim was "bizarre dirt unit tactics" on behalf of the Opposition Liberal Party.
Rudd too denied the incident yesterday on a local radio channel.
Cobb, however, denied he was involved in a smear campaign against the PM. Asked whether he believed what he'd heard, Cobb said, "The people who relayed it to me are the best-trained, best-led defence force in the world. I have no doubt that they believed it."
Earlier incidentRudd has already earned a reputation as a cranky-pants after he was accused of shouting at a Royal Australian Air Force crew member until she cried for serving the wrong meal on a VIP flight in January. Rudd apologised to the woman last month after the incident became public.
Ironically, last year, Rudd ordered one of his own backbenchers to undergo anger management counselling over a "pattern of unacceptable behaviour" after she and her state minister husband were involved in a nightclub
altercation.
Rudd has sought to craft an image as relaxed and easy-going, in a country where voters punish perceived elitism. A poll this week showed Australia's worsening economy and soaring state borrowings had begun to hurt the popularity of Rudd's centre-left government.
