PM eyes marker on longevity league

PRIME ministers strive to write their names in the history books.

PRIME ministers strive to write their names in the history books. For Julia Gillard, Monday, January 14 will be a red-letter day in the annals of Australian politics and will mark a personal milestone.

On that date, just 28 days away, Ms Gillard will have served as prime minister for longer than Kevin Rudd, whom she replaced in a caucus coup in June 2010.

This will position Ms Gillard as the 16th longest serving of Australia's 27 prime ministers, just behind the first, Edmund Barton.

But if Ms Gillard leads her government to the next election, which most political observers suggest is likely, she will move further up the rankings to pass Barton, Gough Whitlam and John Gorton.

GRAPHIC: PMs since 1901

By the end of next year, she will secure a place in the top half.

If her government is re-elected late next year, she will overtake John Curtin, Paul Keating, Ben Chifley and possibly Andrew Fisher and Alfred Deakin.

Securing an electoral victory and serving a further full three-year term would see Ms Gillard rank in the top 10 of prime ministers for continuous length of service.

Australia's longest-serving prime minister is Liberal Party founder Robert Menzies, who led the nation from 1939 to 1941 and again from 1949 until his retirement in 1966 - 18 years in office.

Following Menzies is John Howard, with 11 years' service, ahead of Bob Hawke - the longest-serving Labor prime minister - with almost nine years in The Lodge.

For three decades, Billy Hughes held the record as the longest-serving prime minister, with a tenure of seven years. Menzies eclipsed his record in the mid-1950s.

Malcolm Fraser held the title as the second-longest-serving prime minister until overtaken by Mr Hawke in 1990.

Mr Hawke was then overtaken by Mr Howard in late 2004.

Mr Rudd, who served for 935 days, ranks alongside Jim Scullin as the shortest-serving Labor prime minister to win an election. Scullin ruled from 1929 to 1932.

The shortest-serving prime minister is Frank Forde, who held office for only eight days after the death of Curtin in 1945. Forde had been deputy prime minister. But when the Labor caucus met to select Curtin's successor as party leader, they chose Chifley, who then became prime minister.

If Ms Gillard is not content with displacing Mr Rudd on the table of prime ministerial longevity and has Menzies's record-run in her sights, this will require her remaining as prime minister until 2028.