Peter Beattie’s brutal takedown of best ‘frenemies’ Rudd and Turnbull

Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie has delivered a stinging verdict on why ex-PMs Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull failed to live up to the great expectations that got them into the top job.

One of Queensland’s most successful premiers, Peter Beattie, has delivered a brutally frank assessment of why Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull failed to capitalise on their promise in the ­nation’s top job, saying there’s a fine line “between genius and narcissism”.

Mr Beattie said both men had been seen as “saviours” for their party, but the presidential style of campaigning they ran came with enhanced risks.

Former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

“The risk is if you don’t take your party with you, they cut your head off,” Mr Beattie has told a Sky News program about the two former prime ministers.

“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.

“It is about taking your brilliance – and, again, I want to be fair about this, they were both great intellects – and putting it in a way that Australians can understand.

“And if you can’t take people with you on these ideas, the journey is a short one.”

Mr Beattie said the presidential-style campaign the pair ran, focused on their personal leadership, “wasn’t really how the Westminster system was designed”.

Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie. Picture: Mike Burton

Men in the Mirror: Rudd & Turnbull premieres at 8pm on Sunday on Sky News, tracing the parallel lives of two prime ministers brought down by their colleagues.

Chris Kenny, the Sky News host and Mr Turnbull’s former chief of staff, said Mr Rudd and Mr Turnbull were “absolutely fascinating characters in our national debate”.

“The similarities between these two compelling political figures has intrigued me for years, and now they have become frenemies in their post-political lives, the parallel narrative became irresistible,” he said. “It is unusual enough for any politician to achieve the federal leadership of their party, let alone lose it and ­reclaim it, along with the prime ministership – Rudd and Turnbull both did this, against the odds.

“They have many attributes in common – brilliance, determination and self-belief – but they also shared fatal flaws, especially an inability to keep their colleagues on side.”