Is poor polling the real reason behind Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ending his boycott of broadcaster Alan Jones?

THE PM will abandon his two-year boycott of radio host Alan Jones’s show on Wednesday. But is it a sign Turnbull is in real trouble?

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will speak on air to Alan Jones for the first time in two years on Wednesday morning.

IT’S Australia’s home grown version of the famous feud between Presidential hopeful Donald Trump and Fox News presenter Megyn Kelly.

Just like Trump’s one-time refusal to speak to Kelly, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has refused to talk to Sydney 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones since a stinging on-air stoush two years ago.

And just like Trump and Kelly, who last month met privately high up a New York tower to clear the air, Turnbull and Jones met last Thursday in the penthouse of a Sydney skyscraper to work out how it all went south so sourly.

The meeting mended bridges sufficiently to clear the way for Turnbull’s appearance on Wednesday morning on Jones’ breakfast show — his first since 2014.

But a media expert has told news.com.au, the early morning chat has less to do with two finding common ground and everything to do with the man dubbed “Mr Harbourside Mansion” failing to connect with voters in more humble abodes whose tick of approval will be crucial if Turnbull hopes to win the July 2 Federal Election.

Like a political version of Seven Year Switch, Turnbull and Jones — natural bedfellows from the right — were forced to reassess their relationship after a spectacular falling apart.

For two years, Jones has had to watch, helpless, as Turnbull has spent increasing amounts of time with the ABC’s Leigh Sales and even, gallingly, 2SM’s John Laws. Now they’re back together, but who knows for how long?

2GB radio personality Alan Jones will be all smiles now that Malcolm Turnbull is back on his breakfast show.

‘GET THAT INTO YOUR HEAD’

In June 2014, the last time the two spoke on-air, and more than a year before Turnbull would take over as PM, Jones asked the then-Communications Minister to repeat after him that he supported the Abbot-Hockey leadership team.

“Alan, I’m not going to take dictation from you,” Turnbull snapped back.

“You’ve no hope of being the leader — you’ve got to get that into your head,” replied Jones.

Since Turnbull’s elevation to the top job, Jones has let it be known his office has invited the PM onto the show, which broadcasts to Sydney and on radio 4BC in Brisbane, on numerous occasions.

“No one has ever won an election by not appearing on my program,” Jones told The Australianearlier this month.

It also can’t have escaped the Liberal Party’s attention that in a recent interview Labor leader Bill Shorten got about as easy a ride as Jones ever gives a politician. The broadcaster barely even mentioned his difference of opinion with Shorten on climate change.

In recent weeks, with the election called and the polls levelling, the first shoots of spring in their frosty relationship emerged.

Following their high-powered, high-rise lunch, Turnbull said he had a “very good discussion” with Jones and was “looking forward” to appearing on 2GB.

‘HOLD YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE AND ENEMIES CLOSER’

Senior lecturer in Journalism at Melbourne’s RMIT University, Dr Alex Wake, told news.com.au Turnbull’s slide in public opinion was likely behind the entente cordial with Jones.

“I’m surprised, as he had taken quite a stand and that shows that he is a little concerned about how the electioneering is going.

“With the polls suggesting Turnbull not doing as well, I would imagine [his] camp would be keen to maximise what they can, even if that means facing up to Alan Jones,” she said.

“It reminds of the saying about holding your friends close and enemies even closer.

“There will be some votes in it, one would think, for Mr Turnbull.”

Managing director of pollsters Galaxy Research, David Briggs, told news.com.au, Jones’ most loyal listeners live in a swath of outer suburban electorates in Sydney and Brisbane where the election could be won or lost.

“There are lots of seats in Western Sydney up for grabs that Turnbull needs to hold onto and as a consequence it’s important to be a friend of Alan Jones [because] clearly Jones speaks to these listeners.”

Mr Briggs said the electorates of Lindsay, Macarthur and Banks, in Sydney’s west and south, and Petrie, in Brisbane’s north, were some of the Liberal’s most shaky seats all of which had high numbers of voters with their ears glued to Jones.

Neither does it harm Jones’ relevance in the national sphere that Turnbull is so keen to patch things up.

It’s been two years since Malcolm Turnbull was interviewed on Sydney radio station 2GB.

TURNBULL’S HUMBLE PIE

Talking on Sky News in early May, the former chief-of staff to ex-Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Peta Credlin, suggested Turnbull was out of touch with voters in the suburbs following the cancellation of a walk about in Penrith.

“If it’s known that you were going to do a street walk in Penrith, the last thing you want to do, ‘Mr Harbourside Mansion’, is look like you don’t know and you’re not welcome in Western Sydney.”

Dr Wake said Jones’ audience were sceptical of the multi-millionaire who lives on the harbour foreshore. “It’s not the kind of community that supports Turnbull already; it needs to be won over.

“Mr Harbourside Mansion is a hard sell to people battling it out in Western Sydney and outer parts of Brisbane [and he can] speak to them through Alan,” she said.

Jones’ supposed power of persuasion has been the stuff of legend. His failure to back Bronwyn Bishop in her bid to retain her long-held Sydney seat, and his war with former Queensland premier Campbell Newman over coal seam gas, are seen by some as crucial in their respective downfalls.

But it had its limits, said Dr Wake. “Jones’ influence remains with the same group of people he’s always influenced which are senior editors and conservative parties rather than the general public.

“I think Jones has been credited with far too much influence, he’s an entertainer, he speaks to a certain part of the community very well.”

Nonetheless, “it’s worth Turnbull’s time to time to eat a little bit of humble pie,” to reconnect with them. Mind you, Jones’ has tasted that bitter pudding before, after he apologised for declaring former Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s father had “died of shame” at his daughter’s record in office.

It was truculent of Turnbull to refuse to talk to Jones for such an extended period in the first place, said Dr Wake.

“It doesn’t do politicians any good, there’s no great advantage in blackballing the media. You win more with honey rather than vinegar.”

But the pandering to shock jocks, and their fickle listeners, harmed the country in the long run, she said.

“The sad thing is we don’t get polices that reflect Australia because politicians are more keen to win the view of people in a few marginal seats rather than what the majority think is right.”

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