Cliche of the Week 6 – Factional Warlords

AUSTRALIAN warlords, unlike their bandit namesakes, use votes rather than bullets to exert power and prefer the backroom to the frontline.

Factional warlords became an often used phrase when Julia Gillard unseated Kevin Rudd.

Before then the phrase surfaced in reporting once a week, not enough to call it a cliche. When it does appear in the media, factional warlords is used more often in Australia than the rest of the world and is associated with Labor infighting.

Read the full report in the...