I was wrong to back Bishop for the leadership, says Entsch

Warren Entsch, who voted for Julie Bishop in the August leadership spill, says he should have voted for Scott Morrison.

Liberal Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch: “I voted with my heart and not with my head”. Picture: AAP

Warren Entsch, one of just 11 ­Liberal MPs to vote for Julie Bishop in the August leadership spill, says he should have voted for Scott Morrison as colleagues emphatically rejected her ­declaration she could have beaten Bill Shorten at the upcoming election.

Less than two weeks after Ms Bishop announced she would not contest the May election, frustrated Liberals hit out at their former deputy leader for reopening party wounds.

Ms Bishop claimed in a Sunday newspaper interview she could have defeated the Opposition Leader but was undermined from within, blaming leading moderate and Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, as well as conservative WA powerbroker and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, for her partyroom humiliation in the leadership ballot. Mr Entsch, from Queensland, said if he had his time over he would have voted for Mr Morrison over Ms Bishop.

“I voted with my heart and not with my head,” he told The Australian. “If everybody voted on populism, there’s no question she would have won (the leadership spill) but at the end of the day we’ve got to look at what’s best for the country. My second vote went to ScoMo and, in hindsight, I thought I should have voted first for him.

“What we need in this country is not an outstanding foreign affairs minister — that was where she shined. In the domestic policy, even in opposition, she wasn’t quite so strong.”

His criticism of Ms Bishop’s domestic policy credentials was echoed by colleagues, with one senior Liberal saying she had “been absent from all the great political debates over the last decade”.

They attacked her interview as “self-indulgent”. “It’s her trying to get something on the record so she’ll be able to say, ‘Well, I told you so’, in the event of a defeat,” the ­Liberal source said.

West Australia Liberal MP Rick Wilson added: “Julie’s got her ­opinion and she believes she could have beaten Bill Shorten and we’ll never find out, as Bill Shorten said. At the time, the majority of the partyroom didn’t agree.”

Another Liberal MP said they had received a call from Ms Bishop the night before the August 24 leadership spill and listened to her pitch, but did not vote for her.

“You need more than just fundraising ability and celebrity to be the prime minister of Australia,” the MP said.

Several Liberal MPs said they had been upfront with Ms Bishop and informed her they would not vote for her, after the former foreign minister said she believed she had the support of at least 28 colleagues — “many more than Scott Morrison” — to take the top job.

She admitted in the interview with The Sunday Times that she only received eight votes from colleagues, not counting herself and Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Pyne, who she accused of convincing colleagues to vote for Mr Morrison instead of her so Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton would be defeated, declined to comment yesterday. The outgoing Defence Minister yesterday did not rule out a role with Sky News after the election but said he was likely to go into business.

Senator Cormann, whose role in ousting Malcolm Turnbull was pivotal, noted Ms Bishop’s “outstanding contribution throughout her parliamentary career” and wished her well. He refused to respond to Ms Bishop’s calls to explain his ­motives in wanting to change leaders and backing Mr Dutton.

Mr Shorten said there was no doubt Ms Bishop would have been a formidable opponent.

Asked if she would have won the election, the Labor leader said: “We’ll never know because the Liberal Party didn’t back Julie Bishop even though she backed them for 20 years. “She waited in the wings for over 10 years (as deputy) but when her time came, she was brushed aside by Scott Morrison and the blokes of the Liberal Party. No wonder she’s expressing her frustration at what happened.”

Ms Bishop did not respond to colleagues’ criticisms yesterday.

West Australian Liberals were also angry about Ms Bishop’s ­repeated assurances it was her ­“intention” to run at the election before pulling the pin late last month.