Turnbull – who urged the Liberal party to govern from the “sensible centre” while he was leader – said he had been removed because he was on track to beat the Labor leader, Bill Shorten. Turnbull said the Coalition was just two points behind in the public polls, and ahead by four points in internal polling of marginal seats. The Liberal party room then elected Scott Morrison as leader. The former prime minister pointed out that the Liberal party was now polling poorly compared with his own performance before the August spill. The finance minister, Mathias Cormann – a decisive vote against Turnbull in the coup – described the leadership issue as “ancient history”.

Source: The Guardian March 07, 2019 19:55 UTC