John Howard backs Turnbull as obvious successor, page-5

The following extracts of the above article are telling:

..."Former Prime Minister John Howard has expressed surprise at the speed of the demise of Tony Abbott's leadership and agrees that if there were to be a change, Malcolm Turnbull would be the most obvious replacement....

...Mr Howard is not commenting on Monday on reports sourced from a recent private dinner he held with media executives.
During the dinner, he expressed surprise at Mr Abbott's inability to make the transition from Opposition to government and he was also critical of Mr Abbott's chief of staff, Peta Credlin, cited as the source of much of the internal unrest."...