Scott Morrison ally David Elliott attacks Prime Minister’s enemies, in wake of leaked texts

A longtime Liberal MP has come out defending Scott Morrison despite unfavourable text leaks, saying that the Prime Minister is made of “tougher stuff”.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is being criticised by cowardly “armchair generals” over the black summer bushfires and claims he was motivated by petty pointscoring are “absolute crap”, a Liberal MP has said in his defence.

NSW cabinet minister David Elliott – who was the state emergency services minister during the 2019-20 disaster – has told news.com.au that Mr Morrison’s critics should pull their heads in.

“Armchair generals who couldn’t make the grade. They might be disappointed when the electorate realises Scott is made of tougher stuff,” Mr Elliott said.

The NSW MP is a long term ally of Scott Morrison. Picture: 7 NEWS

“And to suggest he was ‘political point scoring’ is just absolute crap.

“Yes, there was a lot of frustration and too much finger pointing but these co-ordinated attacks from his detractors on both sides of politics are motivated by jealousy and ignorance.”

Mr Elliott made the comments in the wake of leaked text messages where former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian called the Mr Morrison a “horrible, horrible person”.

The NSW MP is a long-term political ally of the Prime Minister and was recently wooed to switch to federal politics.

Mr Elliott was also criticised for taking a European holiday during the bushfires after the Mr Morrison was slammed for taking off to Hawaii for a family holiday.

The full text exchange has now been revealed. Picture: Supplied.

The messages from Gladys Berejiklian accuse the PM of being more concerned with political "pointscoring" than human lives. Picture: Supplied.

But he said those criticising the PM didn’t have a clue.

“As Emergency Services Minister I spoke to Scott nearly every day during the bushfires (except for my well documented 72 hour absence!),” Mr Elliott said.

“The fact that these critics won’t go on the record is proof that they are scared of being called out to justify their criticism.”

When confronted about the “horrible, horrible person” text by host Leigh Sales on ABC’s 7.30 on Tuesday night, the Prime Minister interjected, saying: “Which she denies, by the way.”

His claim was quickly rebutted by Channel 10 political editor Peter van Onselen who first exposed the private texts when he confronted Mr Morrison over them during a National Press Club address.

Gladys Berejiklian has maintained she did not recall sending the damning text about the Prime Minister. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Van Onselen shared Ms Berejiklian’s initial text to Twitter last night, saying it proved the Prime Minister’s claim was “an out-and-out lie”.

“The Prime Minister just told ABC 7.30 Gladys Berejiklian ‘denies’ the ‘horrible, horrible person’ text. That is an out-and-out lie,’’ he said.

Ms Berejiklian has never categorically denied the exchange. She said she did not recall sending the message and praised Mr Morrison in a statement after the embarrassing leak.

Van Onselen said the recipient of the text was a cabinet minister and said he was given the screenshots in order to “inform his commentary” and show him how furious the Liberal Party was with the PM.

While this was originally under the proviso that he would not report the full contents, van Onselen later secured the consent of the minister in 2022.

Leigh Sales confronted Scott Morrison over the leaked texts which called him a “horrible, horrible person”. Picture: ABC/ 7.30

As the Prime Minister prepares to visit the Governor-General and call an election within days, Sales asked him in last night’s 7.30 interview if the biggest threat to the government, given the economy was doing relatively well, was Mr Morrison’s own unpopularity.

“Let me put it to you … that there can only be one factor that’s playing into the negative sentiment towards your coalition and that, without sounding rude, has to be you,’’ Sales said.

She then read a “long list” of people who said the Prime Minister was a bully, a liar and a “horrible, horrible person”.

In response, Mr Morrison said those attacking him were simply disgruntled for their own reasons.

“People are always disappointed and they’ll have an axe to grind. That’s normal in politics, particularly when you’re going into an election,’’ he said.

Mr Morrison then insisted he had always stood against the Liberal factions, prompting Sales to interject, “come on!”.

“I’ve never had time for the factional games in the Liberal Party. You get plenty of enemies,’’ he said.

“When you don’t let people bully their way into getting the outcomes that they want.”