"Against the advice of our embassy in the Philippines, he had been staying in seedy hotels in Angeles City, which was not only recklessly unsafe but made him vulnerable to being compromised." In a sign of the personal and political fury over the matter, Mr Turnbull told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age he received a warning from Mr Christensen about what he might write in his memoir. Malcolm Turnbull and George Christensen during question time in 2017. Credit:Andrew Meares "He sent me a message on one of those immediately dissolving messages on Signal, which said: 'remember two words: parliamentary privilege; and two more years of it'," Mr Turnbull said in an interview. While Mr Christensen has not sent any legal warning to Mr Turnbull or his publisher, Hardie Grant, the former prime minister interpreted the Signal message as a threat.

Mr Christensen has attacked media coverage of his visits to the Philippines as a "vile smear" and insisted he did nothing wrong, but some of his colleagues have dubbed him the "Member for Manila" for spending almost 300 days in the Philippine capital between 2014 and 2018. The new memoir, to be published on Monday, says the concerns about the MP's travel also related to trips to Thailand. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video The AFP told Mr Turnbull the Philippines police were aware of the concerns and that this raised the possibility Mr Christensen could be questioned in Manila. "Colvin said he was telling me this because Christensen was about to go to Manila on an official visit," Mr Turnbull writes, adding that the AFP thought he might stay on there after the official business was over.

"The Philippines police were aware of their concerns," he writes. Loading Mr Colvin told Mr Turnbull that the Philippines police could "counsel him on his imprudent behaviour". Mr Turnbull describes Mr Christensen's conduct as "especially sickening" because the Member for Dawson in northern Queensland had told commentators Andrew Bolt and Peta Credlin he would withdraw support from the government at the end of 2017 but then changed his mind. Another factor for Mr Turnbull was Mr Christensen's claim to be a devout Christian.

"For a member in a marginal seat to be spending nearly a third of the year overseas, on full pay as an MP, staying in a seedy part of Manila and hanging out in bars and nightclubs beggared belief," the former prime minister writes. "The hypocrisy made me sick." The passages in the memoir show the concerns about Mr Christensen reached the highest levels of the AFP and the Prime Minister's office. Loading Only after the briefing with Mr Turnbull were others told of the AFP inquiries. Mr Colvin briefed Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce when he returned to the position at the end of 2017 after a by-election. The AFP chief later briefed Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack. He also briefed Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.