Bishop couldn’t have won election

She was a good foreign minister but that’s where it stops

When Bill Hayden mused that a drover’s dog could have won the 1983 election, following Labor’s success at that poll and after his replacement by Bob Hawke at a minute before midnight, all knew that the honourable member was referencing himself.

But Hayden made every effort to be an effective member of Hawke’s team and serve his leader and his country for many years thereafter.

Julie Bishop’s recent announcement that she would have been capable of winning an election, which has not even been announced, if she had been elected as leader of the Liberal Party during the last round of leadership challenges six months ago, is extraordinary in its presumptive content and hubris.

Her claim destroys any level of respectability that Bishop may have still enjoyed among her loyal supporters.

The image now indelible in my mind is of a crew member in a racing yacht yelling out that she would “have won the race”, while the race was still in progress, if made captain during the last change of shifts, while simultaneously jumping overboard with a safety vest.

George Carabelas, Mt Barker, SA

Julie Bishop is deluding herself with claims she could have beaten Bill Shorten (“We’ll never know if Julie would have won”, 3/3). Her problem is that there is not enough substance behind the glamour. Her command of detail is limited, and she would not have performed well in the hotspot of areas such as Question Time.

It is not sexist to come to the conclusion that Scott Morrison is far better on his feet answering questions across the full range of issues that prime ministers are required to cover.

It would be far better if Bishop just retired quietly.

R. Watson, Sunnybank Hills, Qld

Julie Bishop was a good foreign minister, however in doing so, she was only implementing the policies of the federal government. I’m not aware of a single initiative she personally promoted that went on to become government policy. As a conservative voter, I still don’t know what Bishop stood for, and so I wasn’t surprised that she only received 11 votes at the recent Liberal Party leadership spill.

David Armstrong, Maylands, SA

So, Julie Bishop has joined Malcolm Turnbull in recriminations against the Liberal Party. Sadly, both of them have high ego levels and cannot see the wood for the trees. Bishop was considered too lightweight for the premiership, although she was a superb foreign minister. Unfortunately she can’t see this.

I am sure Scott Morrison will carry on doing the great job he is doing.

Marianne Stevens, Halls Head, WA

Julie Bishop has cast herself as the rightful heir apparent to Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister but believes she was cruelly blocked by an evil plot orchestrated by Christopher Pyne. The reality is she received 11 votes in the first round of the Liberal Party election for prime minister because they didn’t want a female version of Malcolm Turnbull. She would have been the gift that kept on giving to Bill Shorten. This latest attempt to rewrite history vindicates the election of Scott Morrison as leader.

Don Spence, Ashmore, Qld

If Julie Bishop really wanted to be prime minister she would have taken a senior economic portfolio such as Treasury or finance. The fact she now claims her ultimate aim was to be foreign minister reinforces the decision of her Liberal Party colleagues not to choose her as their leader.

Riley Brown, Bondi Beach, NSW

Well, now we know why Julie Bishop was not elected party leader and why she has resigned — hubris. For her to think that she, and she alone, could have led the Coalition to victory in May is proof enough that she would have been unsuitable for leadership.

Peter Sussman, Brighton Le Sands, NSW

Julie Bishop is not the first high-profile person to allow her ego to get the better of good sense and she certainly will not be the last.

Neville Wright, Kilcunda, Vic

Bill Shorten talks about Julie Bishop being a loyal deputy to four different Liberal leaders. Shorten obviously has a different definition of loyalty to mine. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure loyal deputies don’t stab their leaders in the back. I guess that’s a kind of loyalty that both Shorten and Bishop share.

Ivan Cope, Manly West, Qld