Julie Bishop Cops A Grilling Over Abbott Disloyalty On ‘The Project’

“Waleed makes an excellent point …”
“No he doesn’t.”
Damn, Julie Bishop, tell us how you really feel.
Overnight, the current and former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party appeared on The Project to talk about the nation’s recent change in government, and defend her role in it. 
Waleed Aly and Steve Price took a hard line on her, suggesting that she could have done more in the days before Monday’s leadership spill to warn Tony Abbott of an imminent challenge.
“If Malcolm Turnbull said he was going to challenge and he told you that, don’t you get straight on the phone to Tony Abbott if you support him loyally and tell him that?” Aly asked at one point.
She refused to be drawn in, saying “I provide the information when I think it’s at a point where the Prime Minister must know. But I am not the only person who provides the Prime Minister with advice and information.” 
“Do you think hearing that tonight, Tony Abbott would feel let down by you?” Price pushed. “You are his deputy. Someone tells you that they are about to knife him. You don’t pass it on?”
Bishop maintained that she had “no idea” a spill was coming until the day before. Later, she was hit with a question on her infamous 2010 remark that Labor is a “poll-driven party” that knifes its leaders rather than face the judgement of the Australian people.
She took that one on the chin, saying:
“I understand that these comments are going to be put to me endlessly and I understand that people will seek to draw parallels. The difference is, of course, that in February the Australian people were very well aware of the disapproval of a number of members of the Liberal party of the then Prime Minister’s leadership. The Prime Minister asked for six months, and that was all public. I don’t think it was a surprise to anyone that the six month-period had come and gone without there being any improvement in the polls.”
Watch the interview as it played out below:

Julie Bishop MP

Julie Bishop MP speaks about what led to the leadership spill & what we can expect under a Turnbull government #TheProjectTV

Posted by The Project on Tuesday, September 15, 2015

via Fairfax

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