throughout the Howard Govt years, it was recognised that Abbott was Howard's protege..... this was why he was rotated through the Ministries (and in each one he managed to f'cup a lot of Howard's plans) and had all his messes cleaned up by those who followed him.
Howard was indeed the prime mover and continued giving his sage advice during Abbott's PMship..... but I doin't think Abbott was capable to doing as Howard advised. Abbott has a deficiency in cognition and makes "plans" on the spur, on the run, on the miracle Catholic cure of all ills phenomenon hahahehehe.
like any over-indulged child, Howard ensured this self-entitled worm of a man had only positive news from news.com. but I think thats as far as Howard's influence went imo.
