There is also widespread resentment within the dominant Liberal Party at the Nationals' willingness to accept the defector, and of Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss' negotiation behind the Prime Minister's back. Liberal MP Ian Macfarlane is considering his future following the LNP's rejection of his defection to the Nationals. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Talks between Mr Macfarlane and Mr Truss had apparently begun immediately upon the former being left out of the cabinet. Liberals say the attempt to expand the Nationals' parliamentary base by "cannibalising" existing Coalition numbers, rather than winning new seats from Labor through an election, is dirty politics. One unnamed MP branded Mr Macfarlane's justification for deserting the party that had made him a senior cabinet-level frontbencher since 2000 as "self-serving clap-trap".

Others were happy to go on the record, in an indication of the anger caused by the defection. Former ministers Warren Truss and Ian Macfarlane are among 16 retiring MPs who will benefit from a generous six-figure parliamentary pension. Credit:Andrew Meares Senior Liberal for the rural Victorian seat of Wannon, Dan Tehan, said an MP's career advancement "shouldn't be about moving here, moving there, trying to seek some sort of extra position by doing that". "I think it's just bitterly disappointing that he's chosen at this late stage of his career to swap camps, to swap football teams," Mr Tehan said, declaring the defection should be seen for what it is. Queensland Liberal MP Ewen Jones: "It seems he is gaming the system." Credit:Andrew Meares

"It seems to have been done for naked ambition," he told the ABC. Innovation Minister Christopher Pyne, who is among the most senior figures in the government did little to hide his contempt for the manouevre, pointedly noting that Mr Macfarlane had enjoyed a "pretty good run in cabinet" since 2001. Illustration: Ron Tandberg The issue threatens to poison inter-party ties and damage Malcolm Turnbull's authority, already being strained by fallout from his removal of Tony Abbott. It came as the Turnbull government's smooth facade showed noticeable cracks, with MPs openly bickering, besieged minister Mal Brough facing a police investigation and possible removal from office, former prime minister Tony Abbott branding deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop a liar over the leadership plotting as far back as February, and conservative strongman Cory Bernardi crossing the floor to vote with Labor over taxation transparency measures for large companies, that had not gone to the party room.

Mr Macfarlane continued to defend his desertion on Friday, telling the Nine Network he was the same person, despite jumping ship, and that he and Mr Turnbull "still call each other mates". "He made a decision he thought he had to make, I didn't agree with it," he said of Mr Turnbull's decision to demote him upon taking the leadership. "In terms of what I have to offer and my passion ... is still to represent the people of Toowoomba and regional Queensland, you do that best if you're in the ministry, you do it even better if you're in cabinet," he said. "In any cabinet you not only need age and experience but you also need people who live west of the Great Dividing Range." Queensland Liberal MP Ewen Jones told Fairfax Media he was "bitterly disappointed" by Mr Macfarlane's decision.

"If he was still on the frontbench would this deep and abiding love of the National Party have surfaced?" Mr Jones asked. "The answer is clearly no. "It seems he is gaming the system. "In politics, we are all ambitious people – 95 per cent of us think we should be on the frontbench. But what 99.94 per cent of us don't do is game the system like Peter Slipper, switching to the crossbench to gain the speakership. "This is something I could not do." With Matthew Knott and Lisa Cox