The Prime Minister’s charges of deliberate destabilisation removes all opportunity for the Liberals to depict the Turnbull-Abbott clash as merely a policy disagreement or an intellectual contest over party philosophy.
It is now an unadorned conflict between two sizeable egos and could get nastier. Liberal MPs could have little choice but to take sides, and to involve themselves in the brawl.
Mr Turnbull has done himself no favours by retaliating personally rather than allowing surrogates such as Finance Minister Mathias Cormann do the job for him.
It is an admission he has had to step in to fight for his job, and his government. And voters want the Prime Minister talking about them, not some annoying colleague.
And some voters will see the comments as an excuse for the poll results when they might want instead an admission of leadership shortfall.
