Malcolm Turnbull has ignited a new legacy war within the Coalition, putting Scott Morrison on notice that he will publicly defend his record, in a thinly veiled warning that has infuriated the new Prime Minister.
Simmering tensions between the ousted prime minister and his successor escalated into a pitched public exchange yesterday, prompting Mr Turnbull to tell colleagues that he would not tolerate a rewriting of history.
The Australian understands that when friends and former colleagues contacted Mr Turnbull this week to urge him to step into the shadows, the former prime minister was defiant, saying he would defend his legacy and “correct the record” when needed.
The latest outbreak in hostilities came after Mr Morrison, in a radio interview, accused Mr Turnbull of going beyond his brief in discussing trade and Jerusalem with the Indonesians during his trip as an envoy to Bali this week.
Mr Turnbull responded quickly with a tweet: “A few facts. Scott Morrison asked me to discuss trade and the embassy issue in Bali and we had a call before I left to confirm his messages which I duly relayed to (Indonesian President Joko Widodo),” he tweeted. “There was a detailed paper on the issue in my official brief as well.”
Read the article by Simon Benson in The Australian.