Charm offensive: Liberals deploy John Howard to Wentworth as Anthony Albanese loses working class

John Howard has been deployed as a one-man charm offensive for the Libs. His appearance reminds us of an incredible gain he made as PM that Anthony Albanese hasn’t nailed, writes Joe Hildebrand.

The last time I met John Howard was at an event a few years ago, during the final churn of Australia’s runaway turnstile of prime ministers.

“Ah, Mr Howard!” I said. “Our last good one!”

It was a joke he got straight away.

“Stop, stop!” he said, batting his hand down modestly. And then with a flickering grin: “Keep going...”

Howard’s humour was one of Australia’s best kept secrets during his decades in public office. He was seen more as the stolid reliable steward of the treasury benches or as the nation’s kind but firm grandpa.

But since ending his tenure as the nation’s second longest serving prime minister, Howard has increasingly been deployed as one-man charm offensive whenever the Liberals are in need. Perhaps there is a Bat-signal over Bennelong.

And so it was that the Grand Old Man answered the call to walk the streets of Wentworth today, where he was mobbed by blue bloods in the once blue-ribbon seat.

Despite his advancing age — he is nearing 86 — he injected some much needed energy and vigour into the Coalition’s campaign, which desperately needs a shot in the arm for the final week before polling day.

And his presence in the former prime ministerial seat — which covers Sydney’s genteel eastern suburbs — speaks volumes.

Former prime minister, John Howard showed in Bondi Junction to talk to volunteers with Ro Knox. Picture: NewsWire/ Tim Pascoe

Like so many leafy electorates like it, Wentworth is now held by a teal independent who can afford to cater to affluent high and mighty issues like climate change and “integrity”, without having to worry about how they play out elsewhere.

This has forced the Coalition to look for votes elsewhere — among outer suburban tradies for example — whose values and priorities are in some cases diametrically opposed to the teal voters they need to win back.

Former prime minister, John Howard in Bondi Junction. Picture: NewsWire/ Tim Pascoe

And Howard was the last leader to be able to straddle what he called the “broad church” of the Liberal Party — dyed in the wool conservatives and cosmopolitan urban elites — as well as bringing in those outer surburban voters as well, famously dubbed “Howard’s battlers”.

Think of him as Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull rolled into one.

Howard often made it appear effortless but the domino-fall of prime ministers since his departure has only underscored how Herculean the task actually is.

Former prime minister, John Howard in Wentworth. Picture: NewsWire/ Tim Pascoe

And Labor, for all its success so far in this campaign, is also facing a similar struggle below the surface. As my friend Nick Dyrenfurth from the John Curtin Research Centre has observed, the ALP may be winning the election but it is losing the working class.

Disillusioned young blue collar men are drifting towards the Coalition or conservative parties like One Nation — which is disastrous for a party founded by and for young blue collar men.

With the electorate fracturing more and more into disparate tribes, elections are less like pitched battles where one side can charge to victory and more about which side can stitch together the most competing interests.

Thus a leader needs to be less like Superman smashing through walls and more like Spider-Man desperately trying to hold all the falling bricks together.

And one old web-slinger reminded us how it’s done as he walked the streets of Wentworth today.

Originally published as Charm offensive: Liberals deploy John Howard to Wentworth as Anthony Albanese loses working class