WHEN Tony Abbott lost the University of Sydney Students' Representative Council presidency, he allegedly approached the woman who beat him and, leaning into her face, punched the wall on each side of her head.

Barbara Ramjan, a social work student in 1977, told the author and journalist David Marr she thought Mr Abbott was coming over to congratulate her. ''But no … he came up to within an inch of my nose and punched the wall on either side of my head. It was done to intimidate,'' she said.

Author David Marr traced a vicious streak in Tony Abbott. Credit:Brendan Esposito

The allegation is raised in Marr's article, Political Animal: The Making of Tony Abbott, in the latest issue of Quarterly Essay.

For a political leader still struggling to gain traction with female voters, it is a hugely damaging allegation and perhaps unsurprisingly Mr Abbott's rebuttal was the only comment he was prepared to make when he granted Marr an interview for the article.