Suse,

" if Abbott was so fabulous, why did his own colleagues see the need to shaft him? It wasn't as though there was an election and the voters threw him out..."

The thread is about why he was unpopular and that's what I was addressing. His unpopularity was the reason he was overthrown - the Liberal Caucus decided they were unlikely to win the next election with him and likely to win with Turnbull. They sought to protect their jobs and were prepared to sell their honour.

I know that you are much more into the superficial believing that having a bad wig is reason enough to disqualify people from high office, but I look to policy. It should be noted that Turnbull gained the votes to get him over the line by promising to retain Abbott's policies so his ouster wasn't due to failed policy.

But Turnbull will never be as dedicated to implementing those policies and will ditch them at the first whiff of a popular backlash. That is why I see us headed into a spiral of economic decline. The Greeks now look back wistfully at their missed opportunities to make a U-turn on their road to ruin and we will also.

Anyway, the main thing is that Tony Abbott is gone and even more importantly he is never coming back. He will definitely go down in the history books as the worst prime minister in Australia and historians will probably argue about why he was such a failure as a political leader. And let's face it, that is probably the only question any historian worth his or her salt is ever like to ask about Tony Abbott. Maybe he could join a monastery and live out the rest of his life as an ascetic monk. Actually he might even like that life when he sees what it has to offer him: no women, plenty of booze, an opportunity to mumble meaningless nothings to himself, etc.). How about we all chip in a couple of bucks to buy him a one-way ticket to a monastery in the Himalayas?

Hi Foxy, in politics there are a few key requirements for leadership longevity, perception, loyalty, survival to name but three. In Abbott's case his perception in the eyes of the public as a "good bloke" had hit rock bottom. Voters didn't like, or trust the man, in the way they warmed to the likes of Bob Hawke or even John Howard at times, every politician from your local mayor to the PM, has to be liked if they wish to continue in office. Loyalty from those around the leader is most important, but it comes at a price, the leader has to be able to both reward and satisfy his underlings that they too are important and not just there to serve the leaders aspirations, a few of the key cabinet members, increasingly seen Abbott as a one man band, and not a very good one at that. Survival, their survival, for the plebs within the party is most important, survival past the next election, The Plebs want a leader who can at least give them a reasonable chance at holding on to their seat, and if possible government as well, Abbott failed to deliver on that score. End result, Phony Tony was "cactus"!
Policy also comes into the equation as well but i'm not sure where it actually fits in, can always adjust that to suit the occasion anyway.

Tony Abbott was so unpopular because of his lies and Broken promises. He was worse than Gillard in every respect.

Dear Hasbeen,

It was Mr Abbott who wanted to give away our
ship-building to Japan. Mr Turnbull wants to
keep it in Australia so I don't agree with
your take on Mr Turnbull selling us overseas.
Mr Turnbull thinks of the nation first.
Mr Abbott thinks of himself and his party.
Therein lies the difference.

My Abbott still hasn't learned his lesson and
it appears that he continues to try to express
his influence. Even John Howard wasn't keen on
Abbott and didn't trust him. Apparently the
man had a reputation even then.

Dear Foxy,

What nation? I keep telling you people that you don't have a nation any more. What you now have is a country composed of different ethnic groups who do not share in a common culture, common history, and common language. Stop living in the Anglo-Australian past. Or as lawyers say: Get over it and get on with your lives. And maybe that was Abbott's problem too: he just could not come to grips with the fact that Anglo-Australia is dead. That would explain why he gave a knighthood to an English duke. The only thing it doesn't seem to explain his why he likes eating raw unpeeled onions.