The Sunday Telegraph April 24, 2011 12:00AM Tanner dumps on PM JULIA Gillard is fortunate the next election is two years away. Policy quicksand is dragging the Labor Government down in every direction: asylum seekers, carbon tax, the national broadband network, defence reform and preparations for a killer budget. Disastrous Labor polling shows voters think the Government gets everything wrong. Senior press-gallery commentators are virtually writing off Ms Gillard's chances. And now, a former member of inner-Cabinet's "gang of four", Lindsay Tanner, has pole-axed Ms Gillard. In his upcoming memoir, Mr Tanner, who quit in Ms Gillard's first Question Time as Prime Minister last year, writes: "Whether I like it or not, I have spent much of my adult life in an entertainment industry. "My craft as a politician was swamped by such values. Modern politics now resembles a Hollywood blockbuster: all special effects and no plot." He takes veiled digs at ex-colleagues, in the guise of a critique of "shallow" media coverage: Julia Gillard dyes her hair red, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has Botox, Kevin Rudd once nibbled his own ear-wax, Mark Latham had "man-boobs". This is a damaging book from a man who makes no secret of his bitterness. Mr Tanner has been at odds with Ms Gillard since their student days. He has publicly expressed distaste for modern Labor since 2003, when Mr Latham became leader. When Mr Rudd was rolled, Mr Tanner retired, leaving the Greens to take his seat of Melbourne. Now, as Ms Gillard grapples with the unwieldy Green-independent balance of power, Mr Tanner throws bombs from the sideline. .