Our Most Powerful Female Politician Just Resigned And A WhatsApp Group Might Be The Reason Why
BREAKING
Julie Bishop, long-time deputy leader of the Liberal Party, has announced that she will resign as Foreign Affairs Minister after losing Friday’s leadership spill.
In a statement Bishop said that she had made no decision yet about whether she would quit politics entirely at the next election or stay on as a backbencher.
“I will remain on the backbench as a strong voice for Western Australia. I have been pre-selected by the Liberal Party for the seat of Curtin and I have made no decision regarding the next election.”
Bishop received 11 votes in Friday’s leadership ballot — coming in behind both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton — in a surprise result, given that she is popular amongst voters and well regarded in the international diplomatic circuit.
And it’s been revealed today that her poor ballot figures may have resulted from a hastily organised WhatsApp group chat, where moderate Liberal politicians discussed how best to vote in the internal spill.
The group, called “Friends of Stability”, included big names like Christopher Pyne, Simon Birmingham, Kelly O’Dwyer and Marise Payne.
Here are what the messages, obtained by Insiders host Barrie Cassidy, say:
In the messages, Paul Fletcher warns that former Finance Minister Mathias Cormann was helping gather support for Bishop. In Malcolm Turnbull’s cabinet, Fletcher was the Urban Infrastructure Minister.
According to Cassidy, Bishop’s camp deny that Pyne did tell them about the shift in support. Cormann also denies supporting Bishop, telling Fairfax that the claim was “100 percent incorrect.”
Liberals have lost their “rock star” @JulieBishopMP from the frontbench. This is the transactional cost of dumping a PM. They’ve lost their two most popular assets now #auspol
— PatriciaKarvelas (@PatsKarvelas) August 26, 2018
Bishop was eliminated in the leadership ballot after receiving the least amount of votes. Most of her 11 votes carried over to Morrison, who ultimately beat out Dutton 45-40.