Mr Rudd's ultimatum to Ms Neal, issued all the way from Japan, points to a "pattern" in his own behaviour that he may have to address if Labor is to remain a steady ship under his leadership.

On at least two occasions now, Mr Rudd has spoken out publicly on matters without thinking through thoroughly on the consequences.

On both those occasions, it appears he has responded to public outcry rather than logic.

Cases in point are the Belinda Neal affair currently being played out and the recent controversy over the Bill Henson photograph exhibition.

Mr Rudd's reaction this week to Ms Neal's behaviour - which no one will argue was acceptable - has upset some of his own. In particular, female colleagues have accused him of treating women differently to the way a man who behaved similarly would have been.

Of course, both Mr Rudd and acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard have denied this was the case.

Why Mr Rudd chose to handle this matter publicly is unclear. His intervention has overshadowed the positives that had been coming out of his trip to Japan.

This was a matter that would have better been left to be handled by those here at home.

Instead, Mr Rudd is now having to deal with the fallout of a gender war he helped create.

All because he responded as he thought the public would want him to.

The same was the case with the Bill Henson images. Without having seen the images that were the subject of an exhibition at a Sydney gallery, Mr Rudd labelled them "absolutely revolting".

Clearly they weren't, yet he followed the lead he was given by the public.

Populist politics is one thing, and, on occasion, it will marry up with good policy.

But Mr Rudd needs to be very careful that his quest for popularism doesn't come at the expense of wise decision making.

In the scheme of things, these two recent judgements could be described as relatively minor.

The Prime Minister should look at the fallout from both, however, and learn the lessons for next time.