FORMER prime minister John Howard has confirmed he urged Tony Abbott to remove Peta Credlin as his chief of staff and Joe Hockey as his treasurer.

Howard’s confirmation came in an exclusive one-hour interview with Sky News Australia’s Political Editor David Speers tonight.

John Howard confirms he urged Tony Abbott to remove Peta Credlin and make Malcolm Turnbull Treasurer https://t.co/XnR2IX9otN — David Speers (@David_Speers) March 10, 2016

Howard denied claims that he had a falling out with Abbott, but did say they did disagree on occasion.

“I did give him advice on two personnel issues,” Howard said.

“(Credlin) was one of them and also the treasurer, I did offer that ...

“But I’m not hanging around trying to give daily advice.”

He also said he felt for Abbott, who was humiliated by being removed after winning an election. But he called on other members of the party to “stop raking over old coals” and “focus on the main game which is the coalition is re-elected”.

“The people who have the authority to make the decision, they’re not going to reverse the decision,” he said.

During the one hour interview, Howard also said the public is “demanding too much” from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and urged them to “give him a go”.

“I think there’s still a reservoir of positive feelings towards him, I think he will win the election,” he said.

However, the interview mainly focused on Howard’s years in the top job, talking about his introduction of gun restrictions following the Port Arthur Massacre, the GST, his reaction to 9/11 and the intelligence reports of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

“In the country, you did have people who said ‘I lawfully conducted my business and now you’re taking away something I regard as essential’ — it was though,” Howard said about the gun restrictions.

John Howard says that he advised Tony Abbott to consider removing Peta Credlin as his Chief of Staff. #SpeersTonight https://t.co/6Gtk78eyFj — Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) March 10, 2016

“It was one of the things that gave birth to the One Nation party cause Pauline Hanson traded on that hostility in the bush. It wasn’t just farmers, it was people who enjoyed recreational shooting ...

“One Nation did us a lot of damage because the people who voted for Pauline Hanson previously voted for us.”

When asked if he regretted the decision to invade Iraq, Howard said in the context of what he knew at the time, he would make the same decision again.

“Since 9/11 there has not been a major attacks ... (there has been) smaller ones and extremely tragic but not a major attack,” he said.