Scott Morrison is facing a revolt within the walls of Rome

Malcolm Turnbull has become Tiberius on Twitter. Picture: AFP.

Billy McMahon’s incessant intrigues to undermine Liberal Party colleagues were brilliantly described by Gough Whitlam as the Prime Minister being “Tiberius with a telephone”, now Malcolm Turnbull has proven he’s Tiberius on Twitter.

It could be a tweet to trigger a revolt among embittered Turnbull supporters and those bent on destroying a Liberal Party which doesn’t reflect their disposition and force an early election.

Labor has already unfavourably likened Turnbull to McMahon as Australia’s worst Liberal Prime Minister but Turnbull’s public Twitter intervention from New York to damage Peter Dutton and disclose private conversations with Scott Morrison has demonstrated the defeated prime minister’s intention to take revenge on his colleagues.

The point I have made to @ScottMorrisonMP and other colleagues is that given the uncertainty around Peter Dutton’s eligibility, acknowledged by the Solicitor General, he should be referred to the High Court, as Barnaby was, to clarify the matter.

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) September 12, 2018

Ever since Turnbull resigned after he lost the support of his Liberal colleagues there has been a flood of embarrassing leaks from meetings and decisions made when Turnbull was leader which have damaged Morrison and will endanger the Liberal chances of winning the Wentworth by-election.

Bill Shorten has been able to use the dangerous leaks to undermine the Coalition’s authority and work towards Labor’s greatest hope of forcing a loss of support for the Morrison Government on the floor of the house.

For Morrison to lose any vote will be a vote of no confidence and will put inexorable pressure on the PM to call an early election and face destruction of the Liberal Party.

Turnbull’s tweet declaring the “uncertainty” of Dutton’s constitutional eligibility to sit in Parliament — a Labor campaign he embraced to damage Dutton’s leadership chances — has not only revived a dying issue but encouraged Liberal MPs to countenance voting against Morrison’s position.

While the Prime Minister says he is not distracted by Turnbull’s intervention and respects the advice of the former prime minister, it is yet another grave problem for him to fend off.

The gravity is demonstrated by Julie Bishop’s reaction to Turnbull’s tweet in which she has left open the possibility of crossing the floor and voting to send Dutton to the High Court.

Morrison is under siege already but is now facing a revolt within the walls of Rome fuelled by tweets from the new Carthage.