Sussan Ley has blown Malcolm Turnbull's cover. She has resigned not because she concedes any breach of the rules covering politicians' travel or even the Prime Minister's code of ministerial conduct.

On the contrary, she is confident that material she handed to Turnbull's department head on Friday morning would have established her innocence on both fronts.

No, she has gone before two inquiries pass judgment on her conduct because politics demands her scalp and, in her words, "the team is always more important than the individual".

Our ever pragmatic Prime Minister has accepted her resignation without releasing the conclusion of the inquiry he instigated on Monday for the very same reason.