Why was it OK for Turnbull to intervene in Craig Kelly's preselection in 2016?
Monday, 03 December 2018
Shortly after knifing Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull intervened in the preselection of Craig Kelly.
Turnbull wanted to win his upcoming double-dissolution election - and he knew Kelly had electoral support with voters. Turnbull wanted to stop factional warlords corrupting the pre-selection process.
But now the narcissist wants to see the Liberals swept from office asap and he wants to enjoy watching it happen.
Like pulling the wings off flies.
Mr Turnbull urged senior Liberal Party figures to defy Mr Morrison by voting against the plan to prevent Mr Kelly losing preselection, saying the Prime Minister just wanted to “keep his arse” in his prime ministerial car as long as possible.
The brazen power play was calculated to trigger an early federal election, with Mr Turnbull claiming such a move would help the Berejiklian government avoid facing an anti-Coalition backlash and losing office in March.
MORE: Follow the latest developments in our PoliticsNow blog
The ousted prime minister told Mr Kean that if Mr Kelly moved to the crossbench it would “force Morrison to an early election and that will save the Berejiklian government”.
“We should force Scott to an early election because all he’s about is keeping his arse on C1”, Mr Turnbull said, referring to the prime minister’s commonwealth car.
Mr Turnbull told Mr Kean that he and Mr Morrison in government had agreed to go to an election on March 2 — three weeks before the NSW government election — but the Prime Minister was now reneging.
Mr Turnbull’s extraordinary intervention continued on morning radio with the former PM telling Radio National’s Fran Kelly: “My view is that it would be manifestly in the best interests and prospects of the Morrison Government to go to the polls as soon as it can after the summer break’’.
“There’s a lot of concern in NSW Liberal circles that a very good, outstanding government led by Gladys Berejiklian is going to have its prospects of success diminished because of the brand damage to the Liberal Party caused by the leadership change in August.”