New documentary to look at the similarities between Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull

Senior Labor figure Peter Beattie has told an upcoming Sky News documentary he believes Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull could have been great prime ministers but for their egos.

Former Prime Ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd both ran their governments in a “presidential style” inconsistent with how the “Westminster system was designed,” Former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says.

Mr Beattie’s comments are set to be aired in a Sky News investigation Men In The Mirror: Rudd & Turnbull this Sunday, which traces similarities between the two ex-PMs.

Sky News will air a documentary on Sunday exploring similarities between former PMs Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

“If you think of Malcolm’s government, it’s Malcolm, if you think of Kevin’s government, it was Kevin. That presidential style, it wasn’t really how the Westminster system was designed,” Mr Beattie said.

“It does give them an enhanced power, but there’s also enhanced risk with it.

“The risk is if you don’t take your party with you, they cut your head off.”

Mr Beattie said both former leaders were seen as “very smart” and “saviours for their party in difficult times”.

“They had the potential to be two of the greatest prime ministers this country’s ever had, intellectually, really clever … But sometimes there’s not a big gap between genius and narcissism,” he said.

Former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says both men ran their governments in a way incompatible with the Westminster system. Picture: Mike Burton

Peta Credlin says both men have a chip on their shoulder about their brainpower. Picture: Jane Dempster

In the documentary, former Liberal Minister Nick Minchin accused both men of “pursuing vendettas of a similar kind against those that they believe have been very damaging to them”.

He said they are “seeking to place the blame for their downfalls on others”.

Peta Credlin, Sky News host and former chief of staff to Tony Abbott, said both men have a “chip on their shoulder about their intellectual capacity”. Ahead of the documentary, host Chris Kenny said: “Now they have become frenemies in their post-political lives, the parallel narrative became irresistible.”

Men In The Mirror: Rudd & Turnbull premieres this Sunday at 8pm AEST on Sky News on Foxtel.

Originally published as New documentary to look at the similarities between Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull