Tony Abbott wants the corrosive leadership chatter eating away at his authority to go away.

But it is Abbott who is feeding the insurrection with aggressive ill-judged performances that reveal a leader incapable of change, and determined not to listen.

A glance at the backbench when the Prime Minister is at the dispatch box hints at a dissatisfaction which has only hardened since the spill motion a fortnight ago.

It is now more-or-less entrenched across all factions of the Liberal Party.