The best bits from Niki Savva’s explosive book The Road to Ruin, How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin destroyed their own government

UPDATE: Tony Abbott has responded to an explosive account of the former prime minister’s downfall.

Women of the Future - AWW

IT’S the book political junkies have been salivating over and Tony Abbott loyalists have been fearing.

Former Liberal staffer and journalist Niki Savva’s explosive account of the former prime minister’s downfall, Road to Ruin: How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin Destroyed Their Own Government, has already made headlines with its revelations about the pair facing affair rumours and the former chief of staff’s temper.

Abbott responded to the book on Monday afternoon, saying: “A dysfunctional opposition couldn’t win an election and a dysfunctional government couldn’t have got so much done in just two years.”

“The best response to this book is the objective record of the Abbott government,” the statement said.

He added: “That said, I’m not in the business of raking over old coals nor am I in the business of responding to scurrilous gossip and smear.”

From buttock-slapping to pushing the PM’s wife out of the picture, below are the seven most interesting stories from the controversial new book.

MYSTERY OF THE MARBLE TABLE SOLVED

Despite an increasing number of books, untold pages of newspaper space and hours of broadcasting devoted to Tony Abbott’s downfall, there’s one event in the recent leadership change that’s resisted explanation.

That is, of course, until now. Savva claims to solve one of the great political mysteries of our time: Who broke the marble table?

Joe Hockey has been outed as the enthusiastic dancer who caused a taxpayer-purchased Italian marble table to crack into pieces as Abbott and his colleagues saw out his leadership in an office party the night he was deposed.

“Different people jumped on to an expensive marble-topped Italian table to speak or dance, but when Joe Hockey hopped on to it, the marble cracked,” Savva writes.

“Hockey fell straight through the middle.”

It was Joe. The damage done to a marble table during the political wake.

The incident led to one of the most entertaining Senate estimates hearings last year, where the value of the table and the events that brought about its destruction were debated. The matter was resolved by the former PM confirming he would personally cover the costs of the damage.

CREDLIN MADE STAFFERS’ LIVES HELL

In a series of rare admissions, a number of former government staffers have come forward to air their grievances over their experiences in the Credlin-run office.

One former staffer, Fiona Telford, said she was repeatedly picked on and roared at by Ms Credlin.

She said on one occasion, the then-chief of staff called her “a f***ing useless bitch” and told her “you don’t f***ing know anything”.

Ms Telford maintains she was blameless in the incident, and the abuse undeserved.

“She got to me, and it’s taken me near on nine years to finally speak out about it now,” she is quoted as saying.

Another former staff member, Jane McMillan, is quoted as saying the office was “held hostage” to the chief of staff’s moods.

“She would disappear, be uncontactable — or, worse — be present to single people out in group settings, and bully them,” she told Savva.

CREDLIN AND ABBOTT WERE WEIRDLY CLOSE

The unusual and ultimately destructive relationship between the former prime minister and his right-hand woman is at the centre of Savva’s book, and, she suggests, Mr Abbott’s downfall.

The odd closeness between the pair is demonstrated in some uncomfortable anecdotes shared by former colleagues.

A Liberal MP relayed a story to Savva that he says made his staffer sit “bolt upright” when the two joined Abbott and Ms Credlin for a meal in Melbourne.

“To their dismay, they watched Credlin feed Abbott — who had a voracious appetite, and had already polished off his main course — mouthfuls of food from her plate with her fork,” Savva writes.

“As the meal was ending, she put her head on his shoulder to complain about being tired, to which Abbott said they must go soon.”

Ms Credlin has dismissed the claims as “laughable” and “offensive”.

Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin are both unhappy with what’s been published. Picture: Gary Ramage

THERE WAS BUTTOCK SLAPPING INVOLVED

A minister is quoted in the book as claiming to have witnessed Mr Abbott slap the buttocks of Ms Credlin without realising they were being watched.

The unnamed minister said Ms Credlin smiled in response to the slap.

SHE WOULD DO JUST ABOUT ANYTHING FOR HIM

Savva has suggested Tony Abbott delegated his power as prime minister to his former chief of staff, but she also took care of the little things.

Along with the fork-feeding incident, the book details Ms Credlin taking up grooming duties for her boss too.

Ms Credlin would apply Tony Abbott’s make-up before an event, then touch it up in front of people if necessary, a first for a chief of staff.

During the 2013 campaign she arranged the purchase of expensive matching Tumi luggage for herself and Mr Abbott, inscribed, in gold, with their initials, the book claims.

MARGIE WAS TOTALLY SIDELINED

Though she was an asset to the 2013 election campaign that saw Abbott take office, his wife Margie soon disappeared from the spotlight.

It wasn’t an accident, the book claims, and like many unusual decisions made over Abbott’s prime ministership, the call to exclude the prime minister’s wife was apparently made by Ms Credlin.

Savva recounts a story from a staffer tasked with preparing a briefing for Mrs Abbott so she knew her entitlements around use of ComCars and other benefits that can come with being the prime minister’s spouse.

“She angrily berated the adviser, telling him this was not the White House: he did not work for the Prime Minister’s wife; he worked for the Prime Minister,” writes Savva.

She records Ms Credlin saying: ‘If you get any requests for briefings for Margie’s ladies’ lunches, it’s not going to happen.”

The book also claims “staff at Kirribilli could not order food for Margie or shop for meals, even family ones), despite the Abbotts residing at the official residence”, at Ms Credlin’s insistence.

Pictured at one of their few public engagements together. Tony Abbott and his wife Margie, hosted to a Mother's Day event at Kirribilli House.

THEY WERE CONFRONTED OVER AFFAIR RUMOURS

After Abbott’s “near-death experience” — a vote that saw 39 members of his cabinet signal they wanted him removed as prime minister last January — staff and MPs knew there were changes to be made.

One senator, Connie Fierraventi-Wells, bravely approached Abbott and Ms Credlin over what many believed was a major issue for his public image, and for the government, Savva’s book reveals.

“Politics is about perceptions,” Savva quotes Ms Fierraventi-Wells as saying.

“Rightly or wrongly, the perception is that you are sleeping with your chief of staff. That’s the perception, and you need to deal with it.”

According to Savva, Ms Fierraventi-Wells told Abbott she felt she needed to tell him “the brutal truth”. “This is what your colleagues really think,” Savva records her as saying.

The outspoken senator also confronted Ms Credlin over the rumours and perceptions. Like Abbott, she dismissed the issue and refused to address it.

The goal of this confrontation was to have Ms Credlin removed from Abbott’s office, which clearly didn’t happen.

Savva writes: “She tried to make Credlin see the consequences for herself as well. ‘One day, Tony will be sitting on a park bench in Manly feeding the pigeons, and he will blame you,’ she told her.”

Peta Credlin was confronted over perceptions of her relationship with the former PM. Picture: Richard Dobson

One former staffer compared their relationship to that of King Edward III and American socialite Wallis Simpson, who were famously “slavishly dependent” on each other.

“This was not meant to imply an affair; it was meant to describe the depth of the dependence, the consuming obsession, and what Abbott was prepared to sacrifice for it,” Savva wrote.

“Like King Edward VIII, who gave up his throne because he could not do the job without Wallis by his side, Abbott had convinced himself he could not do it without Credlin. Ultimately, it cost him the highest office in the land.”

They both seemed to agree Abbott could not perform as prime minister without Ms Credlin by his side.

In the end, they went down together.