Tony Abbott, the man with nothing to lose, is a pain that won’t go away for Malcolm Turnbull
WHEN Peter Costello was trailing his coat to become prime minister, the established joke was that he could fit his supporters into a Tarago van.
Tony Abbott’s support base is bigger than that. But it’s small and disproportionate to the amount of noise he makes in the media.
There’s good reason to believe it would be smaller today than when he was defeated 54-44 at the hands of Malcolm Turnbull.
Right now, it doesn’t matter. Abbott is proving time and time again that it wouldn’t matter if he was a constituency of one. His “numbers”, in terms of support among MPs to ever return to the Liberal leadership, are irrelevant.
The question is: what does Abbott actually want and how does Malcolm Turnbull stop him from destroying his government in the middle of an election?
Tony Abbott is a heat-seeking media missile. Every time he speaks it makes headlines.
One thing we can be sure of is this: if Tony Abbott ever does secure an invite from Malcolm Turnbull to the Lodge, it will not end in the two men declaring that the real crime would be if they allowed outside criticism to deny their mutual love.
Today, we learn he will visit marginal seats in a DIY election tour. He’s already fielding requests to deploy to NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It’s a case of “I’m Tony and I’m Here to Help”.
But it also neatly makes the point that plenty of marginal seat MPs are happy to be seen with him.
How does the PM complain about a colleague campaigning in marginal seats? And what if MPs in those seats perform well? Is it Malcolm Turnbull’s victory? Or Tony Abbott’s?
He remains impossible for Turnbull to discipline or control because he is not subject to cabinet discipline. The PM has no jurisdiction to claim asylum within Tony Abbott’s borders. Abbott has excised the mainland.
Close supporters are adamant he would not accept a cabinet position even if it was offered because it would limit his ability to keep Turnbull on the straight and narrow. That is, it would stop him from operating as a self-appointed monitor to keep the party from moving too far to the Left.
Abbott sees himself as a moral guardian policing Turnbull’s leftie, progressive tendencies. Turnbull is forced to turn the other cheek or respond. Either response risks making him look weak.
If he performs poorly Abbott can argue the leadership change was a mistake.
Turnbull faces an election campaign where he is fighting not one, but two, opposition leaders.
Meanwhile, Labor can point to the Abbott-Turnbull regime as a government of two-headed PMs.
Abbott’s immediate prospects for returning to the Liberal leadership are zero, and could remain at zero forever.
Some MPs would have voted for Abbott out of loyalty, and because they do not endorse the practice of knifing an elected PM.
Others who did vote for him have been disappointed and surprised that he has adopted a Kevin Rudd-esque approach to the business of being a former PM.
While some MPs who voted for Malcolm Turnbull may regard the jury as still out over his performance, they know changing horses again would render the party a joke.
So, Abbott is not about to change the adjective that appears behind his name any time soon.
That is what makes him so dangerous — a man with nothing left to lose, who refuses to do what everyone expected and just go away.
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The Double Headed Liberal Party (Read 573 times)
