Malcolm Turnbull told his bitter rival Tony Abbott he was a ‘disloyal c***’ and ‘hopeless’ after a boozy party only 14 months before he knifed him as prime minister.
The Liberal Party titans were aboard a VIP plane, flying to Canberra, when Mr Turnbull reportedly unloaded on Mr Abbott in July 2014 in front of staff and three senior cabinet ministers, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Before that epic spray, the politicians had been at a party in Sydney with former prime ministers John Howard and Paul Keating and billionaire media moguls Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Stokes.
Malcolm Turnbull (pictured right with wife Lucy) reportedly called Tony Abbott the c-word
‘You’re the most disloyal c … I’ve ever met’,’ a witness told the newspaper of the rant.
‘He was affected by alcohol. He castigated the prime minister in front of his staff.’
Mr Turnbull, who was then communications minister, had told Mr Abbott he should resign during an angry exchange where he got quite close to the then prime minister’s face at the end of the flight, the source told News Corp.
In the presence of senior cabinet ministers Julie Bishop, Joe Hockey and George Brandis, Mr Turnbull also reportedly told Mr Abbott he was ‘hopeless’.
Tony Abbott (pictured right with wife Margie) was confronted on the VIP plane after a flight
A little over a year later, in September 2015, Mr Turnbull overthrew Mr Abbott in a Liberal Party room coup to become prime minister.
Launching his leadership challenge, Mr Turnbull pointed out that Mr Abbott had lost 30 fortnightly Newspolls in a row.
However on July 15, 2014, during that fiery mid-air exchange, Mr Abbott’s Coalition government had only consistently been behind Labor since April.
The latest revelation about Mr Turnbull’s behaviour comes as the latest Newspoll shows the government trailing Labor for the 19th consecutive survey.
Malcolm Turnbull was on a VIP flight when he reportedly swore at then PM Tony Abbott
The latest opinion poll, published in The Australian on Monday, has Labor smashing the Coalition 53 per cent to 47 per cent after preferences, after a small recovery for the Turnbull Government.
Mr Turnbull and Mr Abbott had been at a party in Sydney celebrating The Australian newspaper’s 50th anniversary before that July 2014 episode.
The political rivals, who both attended the University of Sydney during the 1970s, were catching a chartered flight back to Canberra for a parliamentary sitting week.
Mr Abbott had just collected his bag when Mr Turnbull confronted him.