August 21, 2018 12:00pm by David Farrar

Turnbull survives – just

The Herald reports:

Malcolm Turnbull’s support in the Liberal party room has collapsed and he is facing the prospect of a leadership challenge as early as this morning.

Mr Turnbull has gutted two of his own signature policies in the last 24 hours in an effort to save himself, removing the carbon emissions target from the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) and depriving the big four banks of his company tax cuts.

A senior source has told The Daily Telegraph Mr Turnbull is “in panic mode” and “clearly rattled” amid reports Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is considering launching a leadership challenge at today’s Liberal party room meeting, which starts at 9am.

The Australian says nine of Mr Turnbull’s 18 Liberal cabinet colleagues have lost confidence in him, and the Prime Minister spent last night ringing MPs to shore up support.

The only question appears to be whether Mr Dutton will strike immediately or wait until parliament returns on September 10. That would potentially coincide with Mr Turnbull’s 40th consecutive Newspoll loss.

The Coalition has generally been 4% to 6% behind Labor for the last few years. But the latest poll has them 10% behind and in a (sort of) FPP environment that is a huge margin.

But he beat Dutton in a vote today by 48 to 35. However still very likely he will be topped at some stage.

If Dutton becomes Prime Minister, that will be interesting for the Government here as he was absolutely ropeable about Andrew Little interfering in their domestic politics by taking part in an Australian TV show and labelling the Australian Government as venal.

If Turnbull is eventually rolled, then no Prime Minister who has won an election since 2004 has lasted until the next election. That’s extraordinary. The record is: