It would not be surprising if, in the aftermath of the Wentworth by-election, Coalition members mispronounced the name of the recently resigned member for Wentworth as Malcolm Turncoat – accidentally, of course. A slip of the [acid] tongue.
But what most pollies and commentators seem to have ignored in looking at the results, is the proof that the Turnbull factor which provided such a hefty margin for the Liberals in Wentworth came in large numbers from otherwise Labor voters. He was the acceptable face of a Liberal — acceptable for the obvious (and to some, odious) reason that he didn’t seem too much stand for Liberal values.
Turnbull was the self-declared Trojan Horse in Parliament, the mole that worked his way ruthlessly to the top, feigning to be Liberal but failing to be authentically so.
This was also the reason why he was always the preferred Prime Minister over Bill Shorten in the polls. Labor respondents swelled the ranks of the Turnbull loyalists to deliver the odd-looking result: prefer Turnbull, but hate the Coalition. Hate Shorten but prefer Labor. That’s another reason why Australia has such acute political indigestion.
