Susie O’Brien: Smith’s trainwreck interview should end his Liberal career

Tim Smith says he’s sorry, but not sorry enough to quit the party and spare his leader further embarrassment. If he wants to contest the next election, he must do so as an independent.

Tim Smith doesn’t think one “horrendously poor judgment should render someone unfit for office”.

But the Kew Liberal MP backed up his decision to drink and drive on Saturday night with a series of further terrible choices on Wednesday.

In a wide-ranging trainwreck media conference that lasted nearly an hour, Mr Smith clarified that he hadn’t had a couple of wines, but “quite a few” and “too many”.

“I’m not unwell, I’m an idiot,” he said.

He then refused to answer at least 20 direction questions from journalists about whether Opposition Leader Matthew Guy had asked him not to recontest the next election.

Mr Guy publicly said he had told Smith not to run.

Instead, Mr Smith would only say Mr Guy told him to “reflect” on his position.

“Recollections may differ,” Mr Smith said, echoing the Queen’s famous put-down of the Duchess of Sussex.

Tim Smith during his trainwreck press conference on Wednesday. Picture: David Crosling

Both men cannot be telling the truth, further distancing the likelihood of Mr Smith staying within the Liberal Party.

Mr Guy’s office was texting journalists during the press conference, which descended into farce.

Mr Smith says he’s “manning up” and owning his mistakes, but he’s not sorry enough to quit the party and do the right thing by his leader.

Instead, he’s trying to tough it out by defying the explicit wish of Mr Guy not to hang around.

Mr Smith can’t have it both ways.

He can’t stay on as a Liberal member and enjoy the support of Kew’s swathe of conservative voters while defying the leader of his party.

The scene of the crash on the corner of Power and Denham streets in Hawthorn. Picture: Josie Hayden

Mr Smith says that he would step away if his presence became a distraction, but this has already happened.

Mr Smith clearly has a very elevated view of his own popularity and skills, but he would know he was elected as Tim Smith, the Liberal, not Tim Smith, the man.

That’s why he’s taking the next two weeks to convince senior party members like Josh Frydenberg and Liberal voters in Kew to support him despite Mr Guy’s opposition.

It’s a bold, brash, audacious move, but one that’s likely to see him walk away empty-handed.

Mr Smith should remember that his recent 49 per cent primary vote is a long way down from the 60 per cent enjoyed by some of his predecessors.

He’s got talent and charisma, but he will not be supported at the expense of the wider party. He’s now a liability and Mr Guy needs him gone.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy at Parliament House. Picture: David Crosling

Talking to Neil Mitchell on 3AW, Mr Smith appeared more candid, but all the good was undone two hours later.

Mr Smith told Mitchell he would no longer “drink in public life”.

He also said he wouldn’t claim mental illness as a justification for his actions.

“I am claiming to have done something shameful and stupid and am so, so, sorry for the embarrassment and the harm that I have caused to my family, and the party and my leader,” he said.

It was a humbling and compelling interview but it didn’t all quite add up – he blew 0.13 but said he’d only had a few glasses of wine.

He was supposed to be out for dinner but said he hadn’t eaten all day.

However, it doesn’t change the fact that his party leader doesn’t want him around.

And it doesn’t change the fact that he was elected as a Liberal by Liberal voters, who will switch their allegiance to the next Liberal candidate.

What happens next is just as much a test of Matthew Guy’s leadership and sway in the party as Mr Smith’s.

Mr Guy has come out strongly in opposition to Mr Smith and deserves to be supported by the party top brass.

If Smith stays, then Mr Guy’s a lame duck leader.

With the Liberals recovering from appalling polling under Michael O’Brien, Mr Guy deserves to be backed all the way.

Resigning from the Liberal Party would take the pressure off Mr Guy and distance the party from Mr Smith’s dangerous drink driving and car accident.

Mr Smith said on Wednesday that such an incident would “never happen again” but the Liberals can’t take the risk.

Very soon Mr Smith will hit the hard reality that one horrendous decision can, and often does, end a political career for good.