Abbexit, stage right ... or is that left?
HISTORY can be handy, particularly when you drag just one part into the limelight to score a political point. We saw that recently when Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull reminded official Liberal sniper Tony Abbott that in 1944 Bob Menzies founded a liberal party, not a conservative one.
And various people saw that statement as a problem because right-wing Libs might leave the party for a conservative breakaway – an existing one or a new one.
But such a split could make it easier for the Libs. They’ve spent their federal life in coalition with one or more conservative parties and made deals with such parties, whoever they were. They have always had the Country/National Party as their right-hand man or the conservative rural thorn in their right side. From the mid 1950s they had the Democratic Labor Party – a mob that held the Catholic vote for them.
Why not a coalition that consists of the Conservative Party plus the National Party plus One Nation plus the Liberals plus whoever else? It would be basically what we have now after the horse trading but we would be able to see each politician under the correct umbrella – wearing the correct sponsor’s colours.
And the Libs could be liberal while the Conservatives were conservative. And so on. And the overall picture would look the same except for the how to vote cards having different party names on them. Ah, but then people would realise who they were really voting for and would not actually vote for them.
So, let’s follow the history trail a little further and see what else the Liberal Party has in the closet.
Its predecessor was a party led by a former Labor minister and premier. Many UAP founders were disgruntled Labor people who left because the party was too left wing and too radical.
Someone needs to remind the Labor Party that it had origins in worker rights, the left side of politics and changing the world into a better place for ordinary people. Or just change the name to the Let’s Get Re-elected Party. Or Shut-up, Make No Mistakes, Don’t Squabble and We Will Find We Are the Government Through No Action of Our Own Party. Truth in politics at last.
Back to Liberal history. During the early part of the Second World War, Bob Menzies led the UAP – the United Australia Party.
Maybe Malcolm could remind Tony that the key word was “united”. Never mind.
And it turns out Malcolm was supposed to use most of his meeting with British PM Theresa May to talk about terrorism because fear is a great vote winner.
But there was another key topic – Brexit. He asked for a free trade deal post-Brexit and some advice on exits generally. So Theresa gave him secret advice her Brexit negotiator picked up.
And Malcolm is now using that to organise Abbexit, where Tony will quietly leave and stop his sniping.
Part of that process was letting Tony find out the Liberal Party actually had liberal roots. That was bad enough for him, but far worse was finding out the party came from Labor and was once a united front.
And Abbexit could turn the party back into a United Australia Party – if it happens.
Someone needs to remind the Labor Party it had origins in worker rights.