Tony Abbott had his chance as PM but he blew it, and he can’t come back

For Abbott, the path to forgiveness is repenting your sins and admitting you let down conservatives, writes Miranda Devine.

“Tony Abbott’s conduct this week has been unbecoming a conservative.” (Pic: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Tony Abbott’s real friends have been trying for ages to get him to end his doomed campaign to reclaim his throne. Maybe he’ll listen now that colleagues he respects have gone public with their despair.

Who knows, maybe he and his noisy band of boosters outside the party regard last week as a master stroke, but, truly, it is conduct unbecoming a conservative.

Abbott had his chance as PM. He destroyed the one opportunity in a generation conservatives had to retake the culture, confront the divisive poison of identity politics, dismantle the “administrative state”, and get the country’s finances in order. That moment will be a long time coming again.

Tony Abbott did none of the things on his own manifesto. (Pic: Gary Ramage)

Not only did he do the opposite of the five-point manifesto he unveiled last week, but he has never admitted fault, other than expressing perfunctory regret around the margins.

He’s never apologised or explained why so often in office he jettisoned conservative values and sucked up to the left, raised taxes, increased spending, left unmolested the ABC/Human Rights and assorted leftist state apparatus, legislated a renewable energy target, squibbed it on 18C, accelerated the diversity neutering of our Army, etc.

No one’s perfect, but launching and funding Safe Schools was the worst, especially as the Nationals warned him about its insidious nature. Why? He says it was a Gillard initiative, which is true. But it should never have left the drawing board. His government gave it life and it is proving difficult to kill off, almost three years later.

So, if Abbott has been auditioning for the role of prodigal son, he should have repented his sins first, instead of wallowing in vengeful denial.