Peta Credlin ‘did her nut’ over ties that bind

Few better examples of Peta Credlin in full flight exist than her rage-filled explosion at Liberal MP Stuart Robert.

Stuart Robert cops a wagging finger and a tongue-lashing from Peta Credlin in 2013.

Few better examples of Peta Credlin in full flight exist than her finge­r-wagging, “F-bombing’’, rage-filled explosion at Liberal MP Stuart Robert.

Mr Robert, who resigned as human services minister last month, has now detailed in full the reasons ­behind Ms Credlin’s outburst, which was captured by television cameras during the 2013 election campaign.

He says Tony Abbott’s chief of staff “did her nut’’ after he went against her instructions. And it was all to do with the colour of tie he had asked Mr Abbott to wear for a fundraiser.

Mr Robert’s public dressing-down illustrates what many polit­ical insiders have known for years: Ms Credlin, a formidable figure with a volcanic temperament, should never be crossed.

The incident happened a week out from the September 7, 2013, election which catapulted Mr ­Abbott to power.

Then opposition leader, Mr Abbott was attending an event at Holsworthy in Sydney’s west with Mr Robert, who was the ­Coalition’s defence science and personnel spokesman.

Mr Robert and Mr Abbott were having a “giggle’’ about the ridiculousness of getting their hair and make-up done for the event, ­according to political comment­ator, columnist and author Niki Savva in The Road to Ruin.

Ms Credlin snapped at the pair, told them to get their heads straight and stop goofing off.

Mr Robert asked Ms Credlin if Mr Abbott could do a fundraising photograph after the event wearing a red-and-black tie, a departure from his trademark blue ties.

“Robert wanted Abbott to take off his famous blue tie, then pose for a picture wearing the other one,’’ Savva writes. “Robert wanted to auction off the red-and-black tie with the photo of Abbott wearing it.’’ Ms Credlin, ever the gatekeeper, said no. They would get to it after the election.

Mr Robert says he accepted her answer but after the event had finished, he and Mr Abbott were hanging around in the foyer waiting for Ms Credlin to join them.

The Queenslander seized the opportunity to ask Mr Abbott ­directly if he would pose with the other tie. He took out his mobile phone, and took the photograph.

Unfortunately for Mr Robert, Ms Credlin arrived and caught him in the act.

Abbott and Credlin

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“There was no audio accomp­anying that footage,’’ the book says. “If there had been, we would have heard her dropping the F-bomb repeatedly at Abbott’s frontbencher,’’ Savva writes.

Mr Robert says he gave as “good as he got’’ and accepts he shouldn’t have asked Mr Abbott. He later apologised to Ms Credlin.

The photograph of Mr Abbott wearing a tie that wasn’t blue, he tells Savva, ended up raising “more than you could imagine’’ in an auction with the money spread across key marginal seats.

Mr Robert resigned from the Turnbull ministry last month after it was ­revealed he made a private trip to China to help Liberal donor Paul Marks. He later discovered that he had shares in a trust linked to Marks’s mining company Nimrod­ Resources.

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