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Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his chief of staff Peta Credlin played it harder and rougher than anybody else to get where they wanted to be, running the country. But they proved incapable of managing their own office, much less the government. Then, when it was over, when it was crystal-clear to everyone that they had failed, when everyone else could see why they had failed, she played the gender card while he played the victim. In The Road to Ruin, prominent political commentator, author, and columnist for The Australian Niki Savva reveals the ruinous behaviour of Abbott and Credlin. Based on her unrivalled access to their colleagues, and devastating first-person accounts of what went on behind the scenes, Savva paints an unforgettable picture of a unique duo who wielded power ruthlessly but not well.
‘An instant classic — the weirder-than-weird story of a duo who couldn’t govern to save themselves.’ Laurie Oakes
Niki Savva writes that Abbott ignored all the warnings, from beginning to end — the public ones, the private ones, from his friends, his colleagues, the media. His colleagues were not being disloyal. They did not feel they had betrayed him; they believed he had betrayed them. Their motives were honourable. They didn’t want him to fail; they wanted the government to succeed, and they wanted the Coalition re-elected.
The unusual and ultimately destructive relationship between the former prime minister and his right-hand woman is at the centre of Savva’s book, and, she suggests, Mr Abbott’s downfall.
The odd closeness between the pair is demonstrated in some uncomfortable anecdotes shared by former colleagues.
A Liberal MP relayed a story to Savva that he says made his staffer sit “bolt upright” when the two joined Abbott and Ms Credlin for a meal in Melbourne.
“To their dismay, they watched Credlin feed Abbott — who had a voracious appetite, and had already polished off his main course — mouthfuls of food from her plate with her fork,” Savva writes.
“As the meal was ending, she put her head on his shoulder to complain about being tired, to which Abbott said they must go soon.”
Ms Credlin has dismissed the claims as “laughable” and “offensive”.
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