The former foreign minister says Christopher Pyne is to blame for knocking her out of the Liberal leadership ballot

The former foreign minister Julie Bishop has opened up about her leadership ambitions last year and claims Christopher Pyne was the reason why she failed.

In an interview with WA’s the Sunday Times, Bishop, who will quit politics at the federal election, also said the Coalition would be in a winning position if her colleagues had picked her to lead the Liberal party.

Bishop said she believed she had the support of at least 28 colleagues, more than Scott Morrison, before going into the party room last August, only to be knocked out in the first round of voting.

Instead she got just 11 votes, which saw her knocked out in the first round of voting. Eventually, Morrison defeated Peter Dutton 45 votes to 40.

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“I am now told that there was a view, led by Christopher Pyne and others, that even though I would have 28 votes — which was many more than Scott Morrison — it wouldn’t be enough to beat Peter Dutton.

“So, they wanted to make sure that happened,” she told the paper.

“If I had known that was what their thinking was, I could have dissuaded them of it but also I would have pointed out that the question was: Who could beat Bill Shorten?

“And I was confident that I could (beat Shorten).

“And that was Labor’s thought too. I felt confident (of winning the leadership) after the assurances I had received over the phone.”

However, she emphasised she wasn’t bitter over the outcome and was looking forward to the next chapter of her life.

“I always aimed to be foreign minister and I achieved that,” she said. “I am absolutely leaving on a high note.”

In announcing her resignation, Bishop joined Kelly O’Dwyer, Nigel Scullion and Michael Keenan as high-profile names leaving the government party room, and federal politics ahead of the next election.

Christopher Pyne and Steve Ciobo followed suit with their own resignation announcements late last week, with the election due to be held in less than three months.

While stopping short of saying Bishop could have defeated him at the next election, Shorten described the former foreign minister as someone who would have been “a formidable opponent” but said her interview was more proof the government was stuck in a cycle of fighting with itself.

“[Bishop] is distinguished, she is experienced,” Shorten said on Sunday. “Julie Bishop served four male leaders of the Liberal party, very loyally as their deputy. She waited in the wings for over 10 years. But when her time came, she was brushed aside by Scott Morrison and the blokes of the Liberal party.

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“No wonder she is expressing her frustration with what happened. This is a problem for the Liberal party. They only have now 11 women MPs in the House of Representatives, of 58.

“Of this 11, one of them has come out and said ‘I think the Liberal party is anti-woman’, another two when they have stepped down, have been replaced by blokes, and of course you’ve got Julie Bishop, experienced and formidable, who waited in the wings, who did everything the blokes of the Liberal party asked her to do, but when it came to repaying her loyalty with some support after 10 years, she could only get 10 votes.

“The Liberal party has a major problem - and it goes to the deeper problem. It doesn’t matter what the issue, it doesn’t matter what the day, the Liberal party is fundamentally split, it could be left versus right, the blokes versus the women – whatever the fight, this is a government which has become a rabble.”

When Bishop announced her decision to retire during the last sitting week, Shorten responded by speaking about the friendship Bishop had formed with his wife, Chloe, and paid credit to her time as foreign minister, particularly her handling of the MH17 tragedy.

“I remember the service in Melbourne at St Patrick’s and she was, she really was a leader,” he said.

“But I also saw her steely determination in international forums to help pursue justice and she was very strong. And on that regard, if any of us were ever to be privileged to be in the position that she was in, dealing with the Russians and other people, I hope that any of us would show the same strength that she showed. That’s to her everlasting credit.”

Morrison, who spoke first, thanked Bishop for her service, and said she was a “good and faithful servant”, while also remarking on her shoes.

“Julie is a Liberal through and through. She has always held fast to those important Liberal principles,” Morrison said last month.

“We share many things in common, not just thinking that Tina Arena is the best Australian female singer! Apart from that, there is the passion that she has always brought to her role; the dignity and grace that she has always demonstrated in every single role that she has held.

“She is an incredibly classy individual, as we remarked about Julie in our own party room some time ago.

“The other thing I’d say about this is that one of my favourite verses relates to the phrase, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ That is a phrase that, I think, very much speaks of the service that we seen from the member for Curtin.

“Her successor will have big shoes to fill, and we all know Julie has the best shoes in the parliament! They will, indeed, take some filling.”

His office later sent out a statement detailing her achievements, particularly during her tenure as foreign minister.