Infighting begins as Liberals pick up the pieces from horror state election campaign

The fallout and finger pointing from the Liberals’ horror Victorian state election defeat has already started, with a former premier already demanding one high-profile resignation.

FEDERAL leadership brawling, the internal rise of conservative forces and an underfunded campaign machine have been blamed by Liberals for a horror state election defeat.

The bloodletting began earlier than expected on Saturday night as the Andrews Government recorded heavy swings towards it, even in traditionally conservative strongholds in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy largely avoided the blame for the heavy defeat and senior colleagues defended his leadership.

But party heavyweights, led by ex-Liberal premier Jeff Kennett, quickly turned on state Liberal president Michael Kroger.

“If there’s one person who should stand down tonight, it is Michael Kroger,” Mr Kennett told Channel 7.

“Michael, if you’re listening … by midnight, I hope your resignation is on the floor.”

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Michael Kroger and Jeff Kennett during happier times at the Liberal Party election launch. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Mr Kennett blasted Mr Kroger’s “appalling” actions in pursuing a long and bitter legal battle against the Cormack Foundation, the Liberal Party’s major donor which only locked in its much-needed campaign contribution last month.

A senior Coalition MP told the Herald Sun the Cormack fight stopped the party being able to afford advertising campaigns introducing Mr Guy to voters.

“We should have started that about a year ago,” the MP said.

Mr Kroger said “we all take responsibility for the result”, after earlier trying to deflect blame to the chaos in Canberra caused by Liberal MPs rolling Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister.

“The party brand hasn’t been doing well, let’s be frank about that,” Mr Kroger said.

A party source said the swings against the Liberal Party had been strongest in areas where Mr Turnbull was popular.

Despite Labor’s narrow advantage before last night, Mr Kroger maintained the campaign was always going to be an uphill battle because “Victorians always give an incumbent majority government a second term”.

Party heavyweights have turned quickly on Michael Kroger. Picture: David Caird

Federal Liberal Senator Jane Hume said that as Mr Kroger was up for re-election next year, changes would be “par for the course”.

Liberal MP John Pesutto did not call for Mr Kroger’s resignation, but made it clear that the party “needs to deal with this urgently”.

He said internal issues were “a complete waste of time”, and the party’s dramas should be a “great lesson” to his Canberra counterparts ahead of next year’s federal election.

Fellow frontbencher Michael O’Brien — who was defeated by Mr Guy in the state Liberal leadership ballot in 2014 — praised the Opposition Leader for working “incredibly hard” and leading “a united party”.

Liberal Upper House leader Mary Wooldridge hit out a “small yet dominant group who are very right wing” for leading a “takeover of the administrative side of the party”.

“If the party keeps moving to the right we will never be elected,” Ms Wooldridge said.

But a senior party source said Mr Guy had been let down by “too many B and C graders in the party room”.

Mr Pesutto, who was facing losing his seat of Hawthorn, refused to speculate on Mr Guy’s future as leader.

“It is a matter for the party room,” Mr Pesutto said.

“I don’t know whether Matthew will want to be a part of that … He may wish to, he has left that open.”

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