Ego: Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberal Party's Civil War

by Aaron Patrick

The riveting story of an ex-prime minister, the travails of his successor's government, and what that bodes for the future of politics


Malcolm Turnbull's campaign against Scott Morrison and the Liberal Party is one of the greatest acts of political disloyalty in Australian history. Through the pursuit of causes close to his heart, Turnbull destabilised a government he was once part of and courted forces openly hostile to it.

This account explores the egos, alliances and thwarted power that have left a trail of personal destruction across the political world. Friends have been turned into enemies, loyalties eroded and reputations shattered. Time will tell whether Turnbull's response to his own political party sets Australia on a different course, but the discourse has changed forever, helped by social media, single-issue stances and a sense of virtue.

Aaron Patrick reveals the stories behind the Morrison government's biggest scandals, from the shocking allegations against Christian Porter to the scandalous treatment of women inside the Liberal Party - stories with profound implications for Australian politics, media and society.

Genres: Politics

336 pages, Paperback

Published June 15, 2022

About the author

Aaron Patrick is the Chief Writer at The Nightly. He worked at the Australian Financial Review for 18 years, the Wall Street Journal, London Daily Telegraph, Bloomberg News and Herald Sun. He was the Washington Post's Australia stringer for seven years and an op-ed contributor to the New York Times. He lives in Sydney with his two children.

Reviews

[Jen Mactaggart · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a hastily written apologetic for Scott Morrison, widely regarded across the political spectrum as being Australia's worst ever PM. Big on gossip and victim blaming it speculates that Malcolm Turnbull played a key role in bringing down the Morrison government, which if true would ironically just bolster the ego of Turnbull which is supposedly what the book is about. As a West Australian I can assure you people here are not particularly interested in either of them and it was WA who decisively swayed the 2022 election, so what little analysis was provided by the author is completely redundant in the face of the numbers. Still, it might have been an entertaining ditty to skim read if not for the derogatory treatment of the women who have finally had the courage to stand up to the political establishment. Nobody believes the accused men are fit to be in parliament and shame on the author for smearing those women again.

[Loki · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a compelling story to be told here about the serial disputes between Morrison and Turnbull, but this book doesn't tell it. This book is instead long on speculation and implication, and short on actual details. It is, as is all too common in political journalism, written by a partisan attempting to play the role of a 'sensible centrist'. I don't know, perhaps Patrick even believes that of himself, but it's clear that he has an axe to grind with Turnbull.

Also, Harper Collins should employ editors of a higher skill level than whoever edited this. It's full of tense confusions and unclear phrasings, neither of which are appropriate to a book that is supposedly intended to improve the reader's understanding of events.

[Rob · Rating 1 out of 5]

My two cents is here .

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading others’ reviews of this book I have nothing new to say, much like the author. A superficial analysis that ignores all context outside the gossip and drama surrounding a handful of Liberal Party politicians. This book binds together the headline events of the Morrison government with gossip and implications to make it’s point, driven by cringeworthy pop psychology. The framing presents the author as someone who probably believes themselves to be a sensible centrist, and not in fact a boorish clout chaser with a dereliction in their duty to think deeply and investigate widely when assessing politics.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aaron Patrick has written a book that is engaging, challenging and which, in parts and quite rightly, creates a sense of shame and anger that too many members of our society, until this very day, can have such a disgraceful set of values with respect to the workplace and in particular attitudes towards women.

He does this through a comprehensive case study of the Liberal party and the parliament in general seen through the eyes and behaviours of Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison and their governments and in the case of Turnbull, his behaviour subsequent to his dumping as party leader and consequently, Prime Minister. Yes there is always more than one side to a story and this is Patrick’s book and his take on it but he identifies so much that we should be collectively ashamed of happening every day in the workplace. When we have a leader of the country openly saying that his wife reminded him of the seriousness of sexual assault by reminding him of his own daughters or another politicising an historical rape allegation against a government minister that had ultimately resulted in the tragic death of the complainant, we must know there is so much that needs to be done to right deeply prevailing wrongs.

To the parents of the world who actively raise their sons from infancy to have complete and utter respect for girls and women everyday and in every situation and who raise their daughters to be strong and resilient and demand that respect, you people are so needed to drive the change.

Aaron Patrick could have given fire to a movement through this book and kudos to him. I fear he won’t though because the people who are best placed to drive change are seemingly not role models in this area. And extra kudos for the name of the book. Sorry Skyhooks but Ego is a dirty word.

[F. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit, it would take guts to write a book on such a controversial viewpoint, so I praise Aaron Patrick for doing this because it would not have been easy. The overall premise, I agree with: Turnbull's own ego did play a part in the destruction of the Liberal Party. However, I would not say of the same extent as argued in this book. Turnbull did assist with garnering support for the independents, and he did, on many occasions, put down his former colleagues to the media. But to say he inspired Climate 200 is a bit of a stretch. I also doubt that the cases involving female staffers being abused by male MPs came about thanks to Turnbull's own anger about losing the Prime Ministership, though the timing is convenient. There is a bit of a long bow drawn in many of these assertions, while the source has been listed as either anonymous or from social media posts, which makes one doubt the credibility of some of these arguments.

I also found it off-putting that Patrick was too sympathetic to Morrison, even though he, too, had selfish motivations that drove his actions. I would say that his ultimate failure as PM in the end came down to his own incompetence, rather than Turnbull's intricate pulling of the strings behind the scenes.

Had this book focussed on psychological analysis (which was its strength when comparing the two leaders), it would have been much stronger. Sadly, however, the many assertions of certain events with little evidence made reading this book akin to reading a tabloid. Additionally, the typos detracted from the general flow of prose, which was a shame. If this author did want to write a psychoanalysis on a politician, though, I would not hesitate to pick it up because this is something he does well in.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

A glorified gossip column; though this book does offer some redemption for itself with some insider recollections that make it worthwhile completing. There are alot of apologies given for Morrison based off the actions off Turnbull - if anything, this book serves to further stroke Turnbull's already excessive ego with suggestions he brought about the downfall of a third government.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

In judging this book, I come back to that old criteria I have set, which is 'What have I learned from reading it, that I didn't know before.' In my view, in the case of this book, nothing that I hadn't read elsewhere. Did Malcolm Turnbull seek to undermine the Scott Morrison Government and the Liberals 2022 electoral chances, the answer is yes, and you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to work it out. But the Liberals also managed to shoot themselves in the foot in so many other ways such as their late selection of New South Wales electoral candidates. There are many others that I could catalogue, but the short answer is that the electorate was sick of them and they were turfed out, essentially as they weren't listening to the voters. I have a theory that Governments pass an 'Its' time moment usually after two terms and this time the Libs hung on for three, when they had run out of ideas, or there are too many scandals to conceal. It is one of the great strengths of the Westminster system and we now seen the great weakness of the Russian dictatorship system playing out in Ukraine. I prefer the Westminster system, mainly because of what we did, namely vote the bastards out.