Question: How long in the wilderness after making a Youtube video comparing a political rival with Adolf Hitler is considered long enough before you're allowed back into the Prime Ministerial fold?
Answer: seven and a bit years, it seems.
That at least is the lesson we are drawing from the news political staffer Tommy Tudehope has returned to Malcolm Turnbull's office as the PM's digital media specialist.
The nation last encountered the aspiring Spielberg back in 2009, when his boss was Opposition Leader and Tudehope – a young Turk with familial ties to the right of the NSW Liberals via his dad, State MP and father-of-nine Damien Tudehope – resigned after being linked to a Youtube video portraying political rival, Alex Hawke as Hitler.
Hey – so what the kid doesn't have in political judgment he more than makes up for in biting satire and social commentary. And what's an old Adolf Hitler Youtube spoof between friends anyway?
Word on Capitol Hill is that Tudehope will once again take the reigns of the PM's social media strategy. Though whether this means we can now expect the PM to release all future policy announcements on Snapchat (the social media site renowned for its impermanence) could not be verified at the time of going to print.
Tudehope joins the PMO direct from the good offices of Crosby Textor, where he has toiled for the past three years as the Liberal-aligned strategist's office as head of digital. An outfit renowned for its mastery of all things Millennial (see the 2016 federal election).
The appointment comes only days after Turnbull's chief-of-staff, Drew Clarke dismissed his EA over an "inappropriate" three month-old Facebook post featuring a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Tuck Frump". Geddit?
Far be it from us to point out the irony of that.
