The hypocrisy has been flowing almost as freely as the blood since yesterday’s Labor leadership change.

Here are our the top five hypocritical statements from the nation’s political leadership since yesterday’s Caucus vote overturned the Gillard prime ministership.

Julia Gillard: ”We cannot be in a circumstance … for much of my prime ministership if the truth be told, where I have been in a political contest with the Leader of the Opposition, but I’ve also been in a political contest with people from my own political party. No leader should be in that position; certainly no leader should be in that position in the run-up to an election.”

The hypocrisy: She knifed a leader “in the run-up” to the 2010 election.

Wayne Swan on politician’s families: “When the debate gets rancorous they seem to suffer more than most.”

The hypocrisy: Swan didn’t care too much about that this week when he publicly accused Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of being drunk during a parliamentary debate. Not much concern for Rudd’s family either when he said this: “…for too long, Kevin Rudd has been putting his own self-interest ahead of the interests of the broader labour movement and the country as a whole, and that needs to stop. The Party has given Kevin Rudd all the opportunities in the world and he wasted them with his dysfunctional decision making and his deeply demeaning attitude towards other people including our caucus colleagues.”

Kevin Rudd: “I simply do not have it in my nature to stand idly by and allow an Abbott government to come to power in this country by default.”

The hypocrisy: He repeatedly said publicly he wouldn’t challenge – it was always bunkum.

Tony Abbott: “I’m not interested in playing parliamentary games. I think the people of Australia are sick of parliamentary games.”

The hypocrisy: The Coalition has played gleeful sport with parliament this entire term. From its craven voting strategy on asylum seeker policy, to silly attempts to not “accept” Craig Thomson’s vote, Abbott has tried to make parliament appear as dysfunctional as possible. Admittedly, not a difficult task.

Julia Gillard: “I’m not interested in any of that personality politics.”

The hypocrisy: This whole disaster has been about personality, not policy. Kevin Rudd was axed in Gillard’s favour precisely because the Caucus didn’t like his personality. They hated his style.