Party ordered to seethe in silence

YESTERDAY morning Liberal MPs woke up to find an email in their inboxes from the chief whip of the opposition, Warren Entsch.

It implored them not to respond to journalists asking about Malcolm Turnbull's repudiation of Tony Abbott's direct-action climate plan on ABC's Lateline the night before.

Entsch sent out the email on the directive of the leader's office.

It was political management of a "situation". I know this because I was woken up shortly afterward by one MP who received the email: "Can you believe (Turnbull) did that. What a f. . kwit".

Those were the words of an unimpressed frontbencher who decided not to heed the directive.

The comment went nicely with the text message another Liberal MP sent me: "Did you just see MBT's relevance deprivation syndrome on show on Lateline?"

Politics can be a nasty business.

Later in the day, another Liberal took my call and offered his thoughts on Turnbull's performance. "I suspect we will be getting more of these emails as Malcolm becomes increasingly frustrated with how well Tony is doing," the backbencher cheekily pointed out.

A senior member of the front bench said Turnbull's comments were "inevitable", as if there was little hope Abbott could control the former leader, even if he tried.

His theory was that Abbott would dump Turnbull in government if he acted in such an ill-disciplined way, but not before.

Liberal MPs by and large, however, took the advice and chose silence over venting. It is a sure sign of how strongly they smell victory at the next election.

Barnaby Joyce was prepared to put his name to his thoughts, although he sympathised with Turnbull: "I respect Malcolm for standing by his views, what else can he do? But cabinet solidarity also needs to be followed."