Niki Savva’s new book, The Road to Ruin, adds fresh and bizarre detail about the well-documented influence exerted by Tony Abbott’s chief of staff

The most extraordinary stories in Niki Savva’s account of the Abbott government are the bizarre details of the control Peta Credlin had over the prime minister, his decision making and even the role to be played by his wife.

The fact that Credlin exercised what many in the government considered to be entirely inappropriate influence for a political staffer is not news, it has been well documented as a central reason for Abbott’s downfall.

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But in The Road to Ruin: How Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin Destroyed Their Own Government, Savva – a former adviser to both John Howard and Peter Costello – adds depth and details to the picture of a prime minister who had ceded much of his power to his chief of staff, who was told by her he could not do his job without her, and who appeared to believe that was true.

Here are some of those stories from Savva’s book, probably more revealing than the headline-grabbing tales of colleagues confronting Abbott and Credlin over their rumoured (and denied) affair.

In 2013, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill, wanted to meet then opposition leader Abbott. Credlin wouldn’t “allow” the meeting. Abbott asked his international affairs adviser, Mark Higgie, if he could “convince Peta” to allow the meeting. Her response was “it’s not going to happen” and it didn’t.

In government Abbott held a meeting of cabinet ministers in his office and one of them told an off-colour joke about submarines. “Credlin stood up and stormed out of the room. A distressed Abbott took off after her. She walked back in a few minutes later, with Abbott following closely behind her. The prime minister addressed his bemused colleagues, saying: ‘I think we owe Peta an apology.’ He turned to the towering inferno beside him. ‘Sorry, Peta,’ he said. A couple of them, including Joe Hockey, chimed in: ‘Sorry, Peta.’ Credlin then launched into an angry lecture, telling them they were the reason the government was doing so badly among women.”

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After Abbott’s February 2015 “near death experience” leadership coup, Credlin stopped attending, and participating in, cabinet meetings, something no previous chief of staff had done and a role many ministers had considered highly inappropriate. Ministers were making it known that this retreat had not lasted long, and Savva documents that at one of the last meetings of the national security committee of cabinet before the successful leadership coup last September, to discuss the expanded Syrian refugee intake, “Scott Morrison had barely begun speaking when he was interrupted by Credlin ... ‘If I can finish without interruption,’ Morrison shot back firmly. Abbott mumbled something about how everyone should have their say, Morrison picked up where he left off, and the discussion continued.”

Credlin insisted on personally vetting every single invitation for the prime minister and his family – whether to Abbott, to Abbott and Margie, to Margie alone, or to their daughters. “Credlin would then decide which invitations were passed on, or not, and when. Support staff were not permitted to inform the prime minister’s wife, or family, about any invitations until Credlin had sifted through them. Former staff confirmed that a request from Margie for diary details was denied ... when Margie was eventually told about invitations, it was usually at such short notice that she could not arrange to join the prime minister at official functions.” Credlin also explicitly forbade staff from helping Margie to prepare for official duties.

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Credlin also forbade household workers at Kirribilli House from ordering food for Margie at the official residence. “She made it her business to manage Kirribilli House as well. On more than one occasion, she made it clear that any functions at Kirribilli were to be paid for by the Abbotts, not the taxpayer (not something that was ever a threat of occurring). But she also insisted that staff at Kirribilli could not order food for Margie or shop for meals (even family ones), despite the Abbotts residing at the official residence.”

“In the lead-up to the 2013 election, [long term Abbott staffer Murray] Cranston was in the back of a commonwealth car, with senior press secretary Tony O’Leary, on the way to Perth airport. Abbott, who was in the front seat, was on the phone to Credlin, who had not travelled with him on this occasion. The conversation got heated. Cranston and O’Leary could hear her shouting at him to fuck off. Abbott said little. A number of times, in typical fashion, she would yell at Abbott that without her he would not have gotten where he was, or that he would be nothing without her.”

Savva’s book is replete with stories of Credlin’s need to control everything including all diary entries, all incoming submissions and even the placement of office furniture and the decor of the newly-renovated Lodge, her micro-management, the ensuing dysfunctionality of the prime minister’s office, the pattern of her isolating and usually getting rid of staff who stood up to her and a pattern of angry scenes after which Abbott would seek to appease her.

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“Credlin made herself indispensable to him. She would do his make-up, fix his hair, feed him food off her plate, let him sip wine out of her glass, bake him biscuits (especially if another female staffer had made some for him, too), then stand where she could eyeball him as he performed. He would look to her for approval, so he would know when he was doing as required or not,” Savva writes.

“It was pitiful to watch. In every encounter, he accepted Credlin’s word above the word of others. In almost every conflict, she was the one he sought to placate. There was a pattern. She would have a meltdown, storm out, and he would feel compelled to go after her to mollify her or make sure she was all right. She never had to apologise for her behaviour, while others – from cabinet ministers down – were counselled to seek her forgiveness.”

Both Abbott and Credlin have refused to respond to details revealed in the book and have criticised Savva for not contacting them about the claims before its publication.