The sheriff comes to call on a deputy in trouble

IT IS standing room only at an election rally in Bennelong, the Sydney constituency held by John Howard, Australia's prime minister. The audience of about 500 mainly middle-aged, middle-class people in the city's conservative heartland has come to hear Mike Kelly, a former army colonel in Iraq. Mr Kelly is standing in the election due this year as a candidate for the main opposition Labor Party; Labor promises to withdraw the 500 Australian combat troops Mr Howard's government has sent to Iraq. He earns loud applause when he describes the American-led invasion as “very flawed” and “lacking legitimacy”. Maxine McKew, a former television journalist who is Labor's candidate against Mr Howard in Bennelong, wins more by declaring: “I am not running as a diversionary tactic. I am running to win.”

AP A warm Australian welcome

A year ago few would have taken such a claim seriously. But as Mr Howard prepares to seek a fifth term for his conservative coalition government, voters in suburban Sydney, who have underpinned his government since it took power 11 years ago, appear to be deserting him....