Dave Sharma says he lost Wentworth to teal Allegra Spender due to ‘dislike’ of Scott Morrison

Dave Sharma has spoken for the first time about why he believes he lost Wentworth to Allegra Spender and what the Liberals need to do to return to power.

Ousted Liberal MP Dave Sharma has put his loss in the eastern suburbs seat of ­Wentworth down to dislike of Scott Morrison and declared that if the party shifts to the right after being thumped it can forget about ever forming government again.

In his first interview since the election, Mr Sharma also told The Daily Telegraph that with Labor to govern in its own right, his conqueror, independent Allegra Spender, “will have limited leverage or relevance” — like Warringah teal Zali Steggall during the last term of parliament.

But “no-one in (Ms Steggall’s) electorate seemed to mind that she was irrelevant,” he added.

Mr Sharma said he had not made any decision on his political future.

“I am keen to make a further contribution but I’m not ruling anything in or out,” he said.

The 46-year-old former diplomat said that while there was a sizeable swing against him, it was replicated in most metropolitan areas.

“It was dislike of Morrison and the Morrison government … even if people didn’t dislike me,” he said. “I was tarred with that brush.”

Dave Sharma and Allegra Spender during a federal election debate at Moriah College in Queens Park. Picture: Damian Shaw

The swing against Mr Sharma was 6.77 per cent on first-preference votes.

He was one of three Liberal moderates in Sydney and six nationally who were swept away by the teal tide on Saturday.

Mr Sharma speaking with a voter at Bondi during the campaign. Picture: AFP

It is the second time Mr Sharma has been defeated in Wentworth, after losing to independent Kerry Phelps in 2018.

Mr Sharma said the Liberal Party had to “move back to the centre” if it wanted to return to power in Canberra.

“I think it would be a gross misdiagnosis to say the party needs to go to the right.

“If people want to go ideologically to the right, good luck to them, but don’t ever expect to form government,” he said.

“Where are the 20 seats we are going to need to find? We need to move back to the centre.”

Mr Sharma said the teals had turned “contests into US-style politics”.

“Any candidate who goes up against them will need to raise a lot of money.”