Niki Savva book: Peta Credlin put Tony Abbott’s wife Margie in the chiller

SHE has maintained a dignified silence since Tony Abbott was terminated as Prime Minister but a new book claims Margie Abbott was “put in the chiller” by the other woman in his political life, Peta Credlin.

The former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, accompanied by his wife Margie arrive at London's Guildhall where he delivered the Margaret Thatcher Lecture. picture David Dyson

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SHE has maintained a dignified silence since Tony Abbott was terminated as Prime Minister but a new book claims Margie Abbott was “put in the chiller” and undermined by the most important woman in his political life, Peta Credlin.

Margie Abbott was a surprising no show at the former Prime Minister’s final press conference after he was knifed as Prime Minister and has remained silent ever since.

But a new book by Niki Savva attacked as “scurrilous” by Mr Abbott suggests the two women in the former Prime Minister’s life were rarely seen in the same room. The books says both Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin denied to colleagues they were having an affair.

‘Put in the chiller’.... Margie Abbott with the then PM in London. picture David Dyson

Book claims the two women in the former PM’s life were rarely seen in the same room.

‘Scurrilous’ claims... ....Tony Abbott with family after election victory. Picture: Getty

It claims Mr Abbott once patted her on the bottom. It also suggests Credlin “exploded” after an adviser prepared some diplomatic notes for a speech Mrs Abbott was giving telling the staffer this was not the White House and she didn’t work for Mrs Abbott.

“If you get any requests for briefings for Margie’s ladies lunches, it’s not going to happen,” she reportedly said.

For the first time, the book provides documentary evidence of a whispered campaign in the office to sideline Mrs Abbott.

In one email, sent by Ms Credlin on February 18, 2014, she warns staff not to do work for Mrs Abbott without running it through a central contact.

“Team, any contact on issues regarding Mrs Abbott’s involvement (media, invitations other requests) should all be made through Sam Cusack so we have a central point of contact. This is important so that we are very careful on entitlements usage as there is no specific entitlement to travel, Comcar, expenditure or staff time for the spouse for the spouse of a Prime Minister (unlike the US where the First Lady is actually a constitutional position with a budget, office, chief of staff etc)”

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“The email should have been titled no assistance for Mrs Abbott,” Savva writes.

Margie Abbott puts her husband’s bicycle in her car after he was dumped as PM. Picture Cameron Richardson.

Peta Credlin in Question Time.

It also claims Ms Credlin was micro managing the renovation of The Lodge, the Prime Minister’s official residence.

“Right up to a few weeks before Abbott and Credlin both lost their jobs, the Chief of Staff, not the Prime Minister’s wife, was still immersed in choosing the decor,” Savva writes.

Ms Credlin has attacked the book telling The Sunday Telegraph that she was never contacted for comment by the author about any of the claims.

“After 16 years in politics, I’ve always made it my practice not to comment on gossip or stories from unnamed sources. Sadly, modern politics is full of both,” Ms Credlin said.

“So I’m hardly going to change this practice especially when the so-called journalist didn’t make any effort to contact me. This book says a lot more about her lack of ethics than it will ever say about me.”

It claims staff were “baffled” by her absence and the fact Mrs Abbott barely ever attended Parliament or set foot in Canberra, where Mr Abbott lived at the AFP headquarters while the Lodge was being renovated.

The former PM with Credlin in question time. Picture:AAP

It claims that after the election victory businessman Alf Moufarrige hosted a lavish celebration for the PM and staff that place settings for the Abbott family including laminated placemats featuring photographs of the Abbott women disappeared because Ms Credlin decided the function would be staff only.

The book recounts another incident where Ms Credlin “re-gifted” a $100 bunch of flowers to the former First Lady. The flowers had been sent to Ms Credlin by a staffer Murray Cramston after the Prime Minister ordered him to because he had upset the Chief of Staff.

Delivering an extraordinarily detailed glimpse Into life inside the office it concludes Mr Abbott was dependent on her.

“She was his Wallis Simpson,” one staffer said.

This, Savva writes, was not meant to imply an affair; it was meant to describe the depth of dependence, the consuming obsession and what Abbott was prepared to sacrifice for it. Ultimately, it cost him the biggest office in the land.”