 After Labor's defeat in the October 2004 federal election, at which he became the longest-serving Labor member of the Parliament, Beazley again returned to the backbench, saying "my time as leader of the Labor Party has come and gone, it's over for me as far as leadership is concerned".But after Latham resigned as leader on 18 January 2005, Beazley announced he would contest the leadership, saying that he was "absolutely fired with ambition".Referring to widespread doubt that Labor could win the 2007 election under a leader who had already lost two elections, Beazley said