Revolt in the Labor ranks as Gillard's leadership unravels.

EMBATTLED PRIME MINISTER JULIA GILLARD. PICTURE: NEWS.COM.AU

JULIA Gillard's leadership is unravelling, if not in the public mind, then in the minds of her own ministers.

They know this because it is her ministers who have challenged it .

The Prime Minister made it clear she wanted Cabinet to back her decision to deny Palestine observer status at the United Nations. But she was eventually forced to agree to a belittling compromise.

This was disgracefully misrepresented by Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr as Cabinet voting to "back the judgment of the Prime Minster" and that it was "a great tribute to her".

This is spin on spin and an attempt to mislead the public over what actually took place.

Not only were ministers at odds with the Prime Minister's position, the Labor caucus also rebelled against her authority and she was left with the prospect of grim and public defeat.

The compromise, the backdown, the backflip, call it what you will, was to protect a leadership already under assault over the legal advice Ms Gillard gave to former boyfriend Bruce Wilson in setting up what she described as a "slush fund" when she was a partner in the Melbourne law firm of Slater & Gordon.

The events of the past three days are more than an embarrassment to the Prime Minister, they are irrefutable signs her leadership is increasingly shallow and shaky.

Parliament will rise today and Ms Gillard will surely hope these issues will be forgotten next year, however unlikely that might be during a vicious and bitterly fought election campaign.

Revolt in the Labor ranks as Gillard's leadership unravels | Herald Sun: