Bill Shorten was the king who never became king.

And the one who created the queen.

He is a prominent Labour Party activist.

But for many party members he is a big disappointment for Labour.

He played a key role in the political assassination of Kevin Rudd in 2010 and the ousting of Julia Gillard two-and-a-half years later, leading to a Rudd repeat.

The unforgettable 7NEWS footage of him sitting in a Chinese restaurant, a phone to each ear, a smile as wide as Lake Burley Griffin, working on the numbers that Kevin Rudd was going to appoint as Prime Minister in 2010 will never be forgotten.

They expose both the brutality of Labour’s factional politics and the fleeting nature of power itself.

And that is the main reason Bill Shorten never became Prime Minister.