Inside the Turnbull coup - how it unfolded, page-3

Liberal leadership: the faceless men who stalked Abbott and made Turnbull king

Flying from Adelaide to Canberra early Monday morning aboard the VIP jet, Tony Abbott had no idea it would be his last day as prime minister.

Neither was he aware he could have been gone already. Sources have confirmed to The Australian Financial Review that the plot to remove Abbott had been ready for several days. Indeed, it was intended to be sprung on Wednesday last week.

Malcolm Turnbull had the numbers. But it was only on Tuesday night last week that the group co-ordinating events realised the PM was flying to Papua New Guinea straight after question time Wednesday to attend the Pacific Islands Forum.

It was decided to reassess and move the next week or wait until after the September 19 Canning byelection. Had the coup been sprung as planned, it would have been a complete surprise.




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