Libs wince as Kroger and Costello collide

”After 35 years of being Peter’s best friend, ally and supporter even I … am at my wits’ end with Peter … Peter made a decision in 2007, I think the wrong decision, to spit the dummy and leave the Parliament. He could have stayed, he should have been opposition leader, he could have been prime minister … now for five years he’s been like a bear with a terribly sore head … attacking everyone,” Mr Kroger said.

”Why do I not talk to Peter much these days? Because as all of his ex-friends know, lunch with Peter is an agony, it’s a nightmare, you sit there and listen to him unload on [John] Howard … he doesn’t like [John] Hewson, he doesn’t like [Malcolm] Turnbull, he has never been all that friendly with my former father-in-law, the great Andrew Peacock … he doesn’t like Alexander Downer … and he’s been publicly critical of Tony Abbott, calling him a DLP stooge and an economic illiterate,” Mr Kroger said.

”Peter’s got to stop criticising Tony Abbott, he is not an economic illiterate, he was a Rhodes scholar, for God’s sake … Peter has got to move on and stop bagging everybody.”

Mr Kroger said the famed ”Kroger/Costello faction” of the Liberal Party had existed to get talented young people into Parliament who would eventually vote for Mr Costello to become prime minister but ”we could never get the numbers against John Howard because John was too good, too popular, too great”.

His attacks rocked the Liberal Party, with the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, remonstrating with Mr Kroger as they passed in a corridor at a radio station.

Mr Hockey was angry that Mr Kroger’s spray was distracting from the Coalition’s response to Tuesday’s budget.

But other senior Liberals confirmed that Mr Costello ”never has a good word to say about any of his former colleagues”.

In his statement, Mr Costello said: ”I frequently speak to Tony Abbott and advise him as he requests.

”We had a private dinner in Melbourne recently to discuss positioning for the budget. I regularly speak to Joe Hockey and other senior MPs about policy matters.”

Asked about the spat, Mr Abbott said: ”I gather there’s a bit of a disagreement. I hope it’s resolved as quickly as possible.”

But Mr Hockey said: ”I wish they’d do it in private rather than sharing it with everyone across Victoria.”

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes