i Tony, it’s Julie Bishop,” began the call. Long silence. Malcolm Turnbull’s prime ministership was collapsing. Bishop had decided to run for the leadership. She was making every call herself, even the difficult ones, to ask for support. No intermediaries, no numbers men.”I’m just doing you the courtesy of …”It was as far as she got. Abbott cut her off. “What about you do me the courtesy of being a loyal deputy?” He was still fuming about the collapse of his own prime ministership three years earlier. He blamed Bishop for colluding against him.

How the Liberals got stuck in a long, demented cycle of vengeance