There is little point in changing the jockey if it is the horse that’s crook. Shifting from Tony Abbott to Malcolm Turnbull to Scott Morrison certainly hasn’t made much difference to the declining electoral fortunes of the Liberal Party. Indeed, the self-absorbed contests between these three men have been a significant further negative, on top of the electorate’s loss of faith and confidence in them due to policy drift and failure to govern.

You might reasonably have thought that the loss of the blue-ribbon seat of Wentworth would have jolted the party back to the reality of their perilous electoral position, nationwide. But, no, it was apparently all Malcolm’s fault. He should have endorsed and campaigned for Liberal candidate Dave Sharma. Apparently there were no policy messages in the result. Apparently no other Coalition failures contributed to that demise. Wentworth was somehow atypical – apparently what happened there will not translate to other seats in other states, even in degree. We’ve listened. We’ve heard. But there is no need to attend to the horse.

Scott Morrison speaks on Saturday night, flanked by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Wentworth candidate Dave Sharma. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Well, if you are going to apportion blame, then go directly to the original insurgents – Abbott and Peter Dutton, supported by a mere handful of bitter and twisted little men. And, while you are at it, just think about how much worse the Wentworth result would have been if their insurgency had succeeded.

By the way, Malcolm was in a no-win position – if he had campaigned he would have been accused of being disruptive and a distraction - of crowding out Sharma. Morrison wanted his letter of support but wouldn’t allow Turnbull to mention the circumstances of his demise, so, no go.