TO NO one’s great surprise, the perpetual fight for vindication between Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull does not appear to be stopping.
Mr Abbott has written an op-ed in The Australian today, and it is absolutely littered with thinly veiled swipes at the man who took his job in 2015.
Let’s run through a few examples.
What Mr Abbott said: “Socially progressive voters are certainly more numerous in Wentworth (where One Nation didn’t run) than in Longman (where it has a 16 per cent vote) but it’s also worth noting that the Liberal vote in Wentworth was higher in 2013 (with a more conservative leader) than in 2016 (with a more progressive one).”
Translation: We performed better in Mr Turnbull’s own seat when I was leader.
What he said: “The differences between Liberal MPs do matter; but not nearly as much as how they’re managed. Howard, for instance, was better at managing his colleagues in his second stint as leader than he’d been in his first.”
Translation: Mr Turnbull did not manage the party well. And hey, maybe I didn’t either. But second time’s the charm, right?
What he said: “In my judgment, it’s much less a philosophical divide that’s hurt the party over the last five years than a clash of personalities. I’m confident that the internals will be better handled now that some leading players have changed.”
Translation: I’m confident the internals will be better handled now that Mr Turnbull is gone.
What he said: “There were a lot of big egos, huge ambitions and differing philosophical outlooks in the Howard cabinet, but colleagues hardly ever leaked against each other.”
Translation: Mr Turnbull leaked. How bad is that?
What he said: “When Turnbull decided to stay in parliament in 2010, I had him on my frontbench and kept him there in government, along with Julie Bishop, Christopher Pyne and George Brandis. Turnbull never returned the compliment. His problem was not that he had too many conservatives in his partyroom but the he didn’t have enough of them in his cabinet.”
Translation: Mr Turnbull should have put me on the frontbench, the fool.
What he said: “Scott Morrison won’t have the problems that I had as PM because no one is stalking him for his job. He won’t have the problems Turnbull had as PM because he is a much more tribal Liberal; and because he’s done the best he could, under the circumstances, to acknowledge the two biggest personalities on his backbench.”
Translation: Mr Turnbull undermined me when I was leader, and hey have I mentioned that he should have put me on the frontbench?
What he said: “What he (Scott Morrison) won’t ever find, though, is any personal hostility from the so-called Right, because he has no wish to marginalise them inside the party.”
Translation: Mr Turnbull marginalised conservatives, so their disloyalty was his own fault.
What he said: “We can’t change the self-inflicted wounds of the past five years, the squandered majority, and the fact that we’re seeking a third term against the Labor Party, the Greens, the unions and GetUp.”
Translation: You know that huge majority I won in 2013? Mr Turnbull blew it.
Veiled shots at Mr Turnbull aside, Mr Abbott’s piece is essentially a push for unity in the Liberal Party, which is pretty ironic.
He says the party’s deep divisions in recent years were the result of his personality clash with Mr Turnbull — not, as some have suggested, philosophical differences between his colleagues.
The timing of his argument is interesting. In the wake of the government’s by-election defeat in Mr Turnbull’s old seat, Wentworth, several Liberal MPs have broken ranks and called for action on climate change and asylum seekers.
Mr Abbott says good leaders are able to reconcile the party’s more liberal and conservative wings.
Meanwhile, Mr Turnbull managed to make a statement of his own without speaking a word this morning.
He conspicuously liked a tweet referring to Mr Morrison’s falling poll numbers against Bill Shorten, before quickly undoing the move.
It wasn’t the first time that had happened.
In the final week before the Wentworth by-election, Mr Turnbull liked a tweet expressing support for independent candidate Kerryn Phelps, who ended up defeating Liberal Dave Sharma.
“Back handing out policy info and how-to-vote cards for Kerryn Phelps at Waverley Oval pre-polling station. No longer wondering ‘Where’s Malcolm?’ Just hoping for a strong independent win on Saturday,” the tweet from a campaign volunteer said.
A photo of a cardboard cutout of Mr Turnbull, asking ‘Where’s Malcolm?’, accompanied it.
That like was also undone within minutes.
Mr Abbott was fairly quiet before the by-election, but that doesn’t mean he was idle.
Over the weekend, Fairfax Media reported he secretly met with British conservative politician Boris Johnson, a strong Brexit supporter, before publishing an opinion piece severely criticising UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit policy.
Mr Johnson resigned from Ms May’s cabinet in July and is widely believed to be seeking the leadership for himself.
After talking to Mr Johnson, Mr Abbott bumped into a Labour MP and Brexit opponent, Stephen Doughty, and apparently mistook him for a Tory. He told Mr Doughty he’d had some “good meetings” with “your man Boris”.
“Perhaps he was giving him (Mr Johnson) some tips on how to oust a prime minister?” Mr Doughty joked.
“It seems to me there are some very strange linkages between Tony Abbott and Boris Johnson and others pursuing a hard Brexit agenda.”
Mr Abbott’s piece in The Spectator accused Ms May of “surrender” in her negotiations with the European Union.
“It’s pretty hard for Britain’s friends, here in Australia, to make sense of the mess that’s being made of Brexit,” he wrote.
“Britain has nothing to lose except the shackles that the EU imposes on it. After the courage shown by its citizens in the referendum, it would be a tragedy if political leaders go wobbly now.”
He is certainly keeping busy.
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