Former PM Malcolm Turnbull slams Liberal Party in BBC interview

BBC host Andrew Neil was left baffled by an extraordinary claim in a wide-ranging interview with former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has blasted the Liberal Party on the world stage and made a stunning claim about his Liberal rivals.

In a wide-ranging interview with esteemed British journalist Andrew Neil on BBC program Politics Live, the former PM described his ousting from the top job in August last year as “madness”.

Mr Turnbull said he was removed because his own party did not want him to win the next election.

“Basically, you could argue that their concern was not that I would lose the election but rather that I would win it,” he told Neil. Mr Turnbull said the Liberals were just two points behind in the public polls, and ahead in internal polling of marginal seats.

Neil was clearly shocked by the statement and replied, “Are you telling me your own party didn’t want you to win the next election, that’s not credible is it?” He also reminded Mr Turnbull that the Government had lost 40 consecutive polls.

“I think (being ousted) said more about the internal politics of the Liberal Party than of the electorate,” Mr Turnbull explained.

“At the time of the coup in August we were level-pegging on the public polls with the Opposition and we were four points ahead on the polling in marginal seats, so the government was absolutely in a competitive, winnable position.

“But we had become, we’d drawn, had essentially drawn equal, even, and in our own polling in the marginal seats which is obviously the only ones that matter you know in terms of determining government, we were ahead.”

Here’s my full interview with Malcolm Turnbull, until last August the Prime Minister of Australia https://t.co/XLK1OWOVz9

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) March 7, 2019

Clearly frustrated, he told Neil: “Normally what you do when you replace a leader you replace the unpopular person whose fate is sealed with somebody who is much more popular and gives you a chance of winning. That was not what happened in August.

“It was a peculiarly Australian form of madness I’m afraid.”

Mr Turnbull took pleasure in pointing out that current Australian Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Scott Morrison was not doing well in the polls.

“The party on any of the objective indications, polling, is in a worse position than it was in August, I mean you can’t deny that that’s a fact,” he said.

Mr Turnbull took pleasure in pointing out that Prime Minister Scott Morrison has not been faring well in the polls. Picture: Getty Images

“It still could win the election, the Liberal government, but its position is much less favourable than it was in August,” Mr Turnbull said.

Outgoing MP Julie Bishop also took a swipe at the Morrison Government just hours earlier.

Speaking at an International Women’s Day event in Sydney on Thursday, Ms Bishop, who will quit politics at the federal election after an 21-year career, reflected on some of the barriers facing her female colleagues.

And she didn’t shy away from the abysmal track record of her own party.

“In the House of Representatives where the laws are implemented, where the national debates occur — my side of politics, the governing parties, have 11 of the 150 members who are female. Four of us are retiring at the next election,” she said at the event.

“We need to preselect and elect more women because the pool of talent is there, the women of merit who deserve to be elected are out there.

“We might have to dig a little deeper, but they are there and we must ensure that more women enter public life and are encouraged to be part of the decision-making that affects everybody in Australia.”