As Labor and the Coalition struggle to land blows on each other, disenchanted voters are hungry for an alternative.
From the outset, he framed both himself and his government as acknowledging the concerns of everyday Australians. It was a voice that rang with authenticity.
So in short, talk up the country, listen to the ‘somewheres’ outside the Westminster bubble – and cut taxes.
Australia’s centre-right coalition defies the polls and the pundits to see off Labor against all expectation.
Plus: Norcott and Brandreth triumph at Edinburgh. Turnbull and Dutton circle in Australia. And: Corbyn’s shoddy copy of the Trump playbook.
With half his ministry on the backbenches, he looks isolated – and in denial.
A colourful, entertaining, and apparently Teflon-coated Deputy Prime Minister falls foul of a change in political culture.
A massive poll lead. Going early. A wooden leader. Mindless mantras. A despised opposition. And then collapse. The parallels are uncanny: why didn’t Crosby warn her?
A lacklustre campaign, a complacent leader, and a ruthless opposition have not just clipped Malcolm Turnbull’s wings, but ripped them off.
Plus: The Australian Liberals should have gone for Julie Bishop. Joe Pike’s Project Fear. And: Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Cyber Corbynistas?
He will be treated more kindly by history than by his contemporaries or the opinion polls – having begun to repair a Budget destroyed by Labor profligacy.
Australia is now on its fifth Prime Minister in five years. And the narrowness of the Liberal Party’s vote does not bode well.
The right-wing British commentators who claim otherwise are wide of the mark.
It is incredible that he has allowed this attack on the Prime Minister’s integrity to be published now – amidst this existential global pandemic crisis.