London: Malcolm Turnbull has dumped on his former Liberal colleagues for ousting him as prime minister during a wide-ranging interview with one of Britain's most prominent political interviewers.

Speaking to the veteran broadcaster Andrew Neil, whom he has known since the Spycatcher days, for the BBC's Politics Live program on Tuesday, Mr Turnbull described the August coup as a "peculiarly Australian form of madness".

He said he had been removed by his own party because he was on track to beat Labor leader Bill Shorten.

"Basically you could argue that their concern was not that I would lose the election but rather that I would win it," he said.