Ministers defend PM Tony Abbott in wake of Andrew Bolt's criticism of Prince Philip knighthood decision

Updated

Federal Government ministers are backing Tony Abbott in the face of fierce criticism from long-time friend and conservative commentator Andrew Bolt.

Bolt has turned on the Prime Minister, saying Mr Abbott's decision to award Prince Philip a knighthood could be fatal to his leadership.

Mr Abbott has promised to consult more as the storm over his decision to award the country's highest honour to the Queen's husband continues to grow.

Bolt told Macquarie Radio he thought the knighthood decision could end Mr Abbott's leadership.

"This is just such a pathetically stupid - gosh, I didn't mean to be that strong because I actually like Tony Abbott very much - but this is just such a very, very, very stupid decision, so damaging that it could be fatal," he said.

"I thought it was verging on fatal already but this is too much. This is a friendless decision, where his friends would feel stupid defending it."

Bolt said he decided to break his holidays and make the comments because he was "just so flabbergasted" by Mr Abbott's move.

"You cannot think what the point is - damaging, laughing stock, helps his enemies, doesn't win over anyone - all those things are bad," he said.

But Cabinet ministers have jumped to the Prime Minister's defence this morning.

Speaking at an event at the Australian Open, Health Minister Sussan Ley used a tennis analogy.

"Sometimes you can be down match point and still recover," she said.

"Sometimes you can make a silly drop shot in the middle of a game and you can win that game and go on to win that match."

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has also weighed in.

"The Prime Minister enjoys the strong support of his party room. He enjoys my very strong and unequivocal support," he said.

Senator Cormann said Mr Abbott had "learned his lesson" by taking personal responsibility for knighting Prince Philip and agreeing to consult more widely in the future.

"He is the best person to lead the Liberal Party, to lead our country," he said.

"He's a very strong leader, leading the charge when it comes to implementing our plan to build a stronger and more prosperous economy and to ensure that Australia is safe and secure."

Party room unlikely to have backed knighthood, MP says

The Liberal Member for Wannon, Dan Tehan, praised his leader for being "open and frank" in acknowledging that he should have consulted more.

But he said if the Prime Minister had taken his plans to knight Prince Philip to the party room, he may not have found support.

"I think you could probably say that, from what we have heard, being frank that no it [the party room] probably wouldn't have," he said.

Mr Tehan said the Government needed to focus on its policy agenda.

"The most important thing now is that we move on," he said.

The Prime Minister's Parliamentary Secretary Alan Tudge has told Sky News the knighthood decision is a minor issue.

"I just say to Andrew Bolt and all the other critics let's keep this decision in perspective," he said.

"At the end of the day there was no millions of dollars wasted, there was no people who died or drowned as a result of the decision."

Bolt's comments follow criticism of the decision by Mr Murdoch as well as conservative commentators Alan Jones and Miranda Devine.

In a Twitter post yesterday, Mr Murdoch called for Ms Credlin to "do her patriotic duty and resign".

In a later tweet, he said: "Forget fairness. This change only way to recover team work and achieve so much possible for Australia. Leading involves cruel choices."

Devine also blamed Ms Credlin for the controversial knighthood decision, while Jones said Mr Abbott "just seems to have lost the touch" with the community.

Health Minister defends Peta Credlin

But Ms Ley has taken aim at Ms Credlin's critics.

Ms Ley said she had worked with Ms Credlin for more than a decade and she was a terrific asset to the Liberal Party.

"I would caution anyone against making extravagant statements about someone they don't know and these observations are not helpful," she said.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Ms Credlin was not the issue.

"Peta Credlin is not the person who should be carrying the blame for the mistakes of the Abbott Government," he said.

"The buck stops with the elected representatives, this is not some episode of the West Wing.

"This is a question of accountability, Tony Abbott's mistakes are Tony Abbott's mistakes."

Topics: abbott-tony, federal-government, government-and-politics, royal-and-imperial-matters, human-interest, australia

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