Malcolm Turnbull: Revenge of jilted lover and a party saboteur

French President Emmanuel Macron and then PM Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney in May 2018. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison is now confronting the extent of French fury and the depth of Malcolm Turnbull’s grievances.

For many Australians, the unending outrage will simply smack of the despairing revenge of a jilted lover and a Liberal Party fifth columnist.

There was little local sympathy for the French position before Wednesday.

There will presumably be even less now following the French ambassador’s press club performance and his thinly veiled character assessment of the Australian Prime Minister.

Turnbull’s motives will be assessed through a prism that is now well established.

But that’s not to say the pile-on of the past week won’t have an impact.

It has been an untidy and unedifying affair.

For Morrison, for Emmanuel Macron and for Turnbull.

And it will be the optics of the harangue rather than the substance of the argument that will be the source of domestic political damage for Morrison, if there is any.

One view would have that Morrison’s image has been damaged as he leaves behind the G20 and Glasgow, a leader bumbling around on the world stage trying to defend himself and the nation.

Mission accomplished for both Macron and Turnbull.

But as Morrison said on Wednesday before his return: “All the obvious reactions have come from all the obvious places for all the obvious reasons.”

This was presumably a reference to both actors.

Turnbull has used wounded French pride to take his own enduring rage to a new level.

In joining with the French President – and now the French ambassador – by calling Morrison a liar, Turnbull has turned his ongoing attacks on the government he once led into a story of personal reprisal.

No Liberal would assume Turnbull was seeking to advance the cause of the movement.

He is now well-established as part of the opposition infrastructure seeking to tear down the Morrison government.

Turnbull is now being aided by the French who appear intent on milking the break-up for as long as they can, confecting new indignation over a leaked text message that undermined Macron’s claim of being lied to.

What was Morrison supposed to do after being subjected to a full-frontal assault by Macron?

For most Australians, the argument boils down to a simple equation. Australia decided to buy better submarines, the French are upset and now Morrison is expected to apologise for being called a liar.

Morrison was expecting that France would try to embarrass him at some point in the journey, but not to the extent that the diplomatic spat over submarines would overshadow Glasgow.

To that end, both Macron and Turnbull may have unwittingly done Morrison a favour.

Rather than being pincered on climate change as was expected, Morrison was confined to a media barrage over national security.

Some may argue that this was a net positive from a trip that never had much upside to begin with.