Abbott & Bernardi have public hissy fit - at each other :)

So it's gone like this today in the "stable gov" of Turnbull's.

First Abbott had an opinion piece aimed squarely at Bernardi over the possibility Bernardi make split with the Libs and form his own cooky extreme right party. Why Abbott just couldn't have phoned him instead of airing the party's dirty laundry in public is beyond me. He wrote thus:

Tony Abbott has urged his ­“rebellious” conservative colleagues in the Coalition to “stay and fight” in the Liberal Party, warning that it is up to MPs to “fix it, not to leave it” if they are unhappy with the government’s direction. 

Arguing it would be a “catastrophic mistake” to abandon the party, the former prime minister and conservative figurehead said that if any of his fellow MPs left the Liberals, it would deliver Labor “at least two terms” in government. 

He has also counselled MPs that they owe the Liberal Party “respect and loyalty”, saying none of them would have been elected without the backing of the organisation. 

“We don’t owe the party slavish obedience but we certainly owe it respect and loyalty,” Mr Abbott writes in the The Australian today. 

“That’s what John Howard used to say and it’s certainly what I believe. If we think the party is headed in the wrong direction or is making a big mistake, our duty is to try to fix it, not to leave it.” 

Mr Abbott’s shot across the bow comes as MPs become increasingly concerned that conservative senator Cory Bernardi is on the brink of splitting from the Liberal Party to spearhead a new conservative force. The Australian

Remember the Lieberals have a majority of just one in the lower house. Now Bernardi has fired back at Abbott, also publicly but this time on Twitter:

While most on break only person talking up division in Lib Party this past week is @TonyAbbottMHR. Always back the horse named self-interest

— Cory Bernardi (@corybernardi) December 30, 2016

Perhaps this all isn't some master plot by the far right to get Abbott the conquering hero back as PM, as I previously thought. Surely such a plot wouldn't involve a public slanging match, would it?  

@corybernardi Lol!...most entertaining!

Your turn, @TonyAbbottMHR

— Coalition Tea Lady (@ItsBouquet) December 30, 2016