Rudd admits battling the bulge

AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Kevin Rudd revealed he was battling the bulge on Wednesday, while his deputy Julia Gillard was stunned to be voted one of the country’s sexiest women.

Rudd said it was difficult to maintain a fitness regime while coping with the responsibilities of office after newspaper photographs revealed how his paunch has grown since he won power last November.

Rudd, 50, said since moving to the seat of power in Canberra he could no longer manage the regular trips to the gym he made when he was an opposition leader based in Brisbane.

“Now I’m down here, it’s a bit harder to manage,” he said.

Rudd said he was trying to take steps to keep in shape.

“I tend to walk a lot. I also swim several times a week and I gym whenever I can,” he said.

Rudd’s popularity has soared in the wake of his apology to Aborigines last week, according to a poll released this week.

Meanwhile, his deputy, Julia Gillard, 46, has been named one of Australia’s sexiest women in a poll conducted by the men’s magazine Ralph.

Gillard came second behind former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins.

“I think people don’t understand I am probably two foot shorter than Jennifer Hawkins and double her body weight, so it’s been a very unusual result,” she told commercial radio.