'Failed leader': Stunned Jeff Kennett slams Malcolm Turnbull's 'appalling lack of political judgment'
Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has unloaded on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, describing him as a failed leader and accusing him of showing an "appalling lack of political judgment" during his overseas trip.
Mr Kennett said he was so disillusioned about the state of the modern Liberal Party under Mr Turnbull that he wanted to drink whisky before 9am.
In remarks interpreted as a swipe at leading conservatives such as former prime minister Tony Abbott,
Mr Turnbull used a speech in London to say the Liberal Party is not a "conservative party" and that it needed to occupy the "sensible centre" of politics.
"This latest point he has made in London seems to me to be an appalling lack of political judgment," Mr Kennett told ABC Radio in Melbourne.
"Why would you do it? Why would you do it from overseas? Why would you throw a can of petrol onto a fire?"
Mr Kennett said he had written a "laudatory" article praising Mr Turnbull's performance in his European trip but he was now in despair.
