There was a time they bonded over the Queen, their distaste for the burka, and those special feelings they had about Margaret Thatcher that no one else would understand.
But the bromance between Cory Bernardi and his former leader Tony Abbott is over, collapsed in the dust of an argument over who is a true conservative, and sadly Sir Robert Menzies is no longer with us to adjudicate.
More National News Videos
- Video duration
- 02:49
Cory Bernardi: Why I quit
Cory Bernardi: Why I quit
Just minutes after publicly quitting the Liberal Party, the Senator reveals why he had to do it.
Up Next
MH17: Hanson excuses Putin
- Video duration
- 01:03
- Video duration
- 01:03
MH17: Hanson excuses Putin
MH17: Hanson excuses Putin
The One Nation leader and colleague Malcolm Robert express their admiration for the Russian president despite the downing of MH17.
Up Next
SA Government passes blame on power outage
- Video duration
- 03:48
- Video duration
- 03:48
SA Government passes blame on power outage
SA Government passes blame on power outage
The South Australian government has hit back, blaming the national energy market operator for the blackout that affected 90,000 Adelaide homes and businesses.
Up Next
Acquitted man again charged with childrens murder
- Video duration
- 01:40
- Video duration
- 01:40
Acquitted man again charged with ...
Acquitted man again charged with childrens murder
A man, who’s name has been withheld for legal reasons, has been charged with the murder of three children from Bowraville in the early 90’s, after being originally acquitted of the crime.
Up Next
The melt test on a hot Sydney day
- Video duration
- 01:09
- Video duration
- 01:09
The melt test on a hot Sydney day
The melt test on a hot Sydney day
When temperatures tipped 45 degrees in January 2013 we timed how long it took the heat to destroy an ice block.
Up Next
How many women did this couple kill?
- Video duration
- 00:30
- Video duration
- 00:30
How many women did this couple kill?
How many women did this couple kill?
Australia's worst serial killers, David and Catherine Birnie may have killed more women than they were convicted for in 1986, suggests new series on Channel Seven, Murder Uncovered. Vision: Network Seven
Up Next
One politician's crusade for free travel
- Video duration
- 01:29
- Video duration
- 01:29
One politician's crusade for free travel
One politician's crusade for free travel
Veteran Liberal Senator Ian Macdonald is pushing to keep the Life Gold Pass that gives former parliamentarians taxpayer-funded business class travel for life.
Up Next
Double your internet
- Video duration
- 02:06
- Video duration
- 02:06
Double your internet
Double your internet
A simple hack for those of us lucky enough to have the NBN could give you some of the fastest internet in Australia. Video courtesy TechWiz Time.
Cory Bernardi: Why I quit
Just minutes after publicly quitting the Liberal Party, the Senator reveals why he had to do it.
Some might judge that a lame basis for what would almost certainly be called a bitchfight if it were two women involved – but those people have not read enough David Hume and should be quiet.
The broken bromance, the human wreckage of Bernardi's split with the Liberal Party, has come out of nowhere for those of us who remember the time Cory helped kill off Coalition support for Kevin Rudd's emissions trading scheme and install Tony Abbott as leader over a leftist Malcolm Turnbull.
Related Content
It has really blind-sided bystanders who recall how staunchly Abbott stood by his outspoken frontbencher, even when he was saying some really wack stuff about Muslims. That was until Cory compared homosexuality to bestiality and gave his leader no choice but to sack him.
But the closer the bromance, the harder the break-up, and in politics, the greatest enmities occur within parties, not between them.
Nonetheless it is odd that Bernardi has singled out Abbott, his brother in all things Queen, country and alpha male sports, as the catalyst for his split from the Liberals.
It was, reportedly, a conversation with Abbott that convinced Bernardi he needed to defect to start his own conservative movement, a move he has been coquettishly promising/threatening for the better part of a year.
Thinking he was having a private gab with a like-minded conservative, Bernardi confided to his buddy Tony that he was dismayed by the direction of Turnbull's government, and he was watching with excitement the rise of populist conservatism around the world.
He told Tones he was thinking of breaking up with the Liberal Party.
Some accounts of the conversation have Bernardi allowing Tony to try on the special "Make Australia Great" cap he brought back from the US – which, in bonding terms, is the right-wing equivalent of braiding one another's hair.
But this girlish closeness ended when Bernardi saw details of his bosom confidences appear on the front page of The Australian.
Betrayed, again! Bernardi saw red – or rather blue – and decided to out-conservative the conservatives by disrupting the establishment to form a solitary platform for his own radical views. It's what Hume and Menzies would have wanted.
Tony hit back by releasing a statement.
Abbott said he had never leaked against a colleague – not even to The Australian.
How could two mates who both love traditional marriage and boat shoes end up like this?
Could it be that the Cory-Tony bromance was never anything more than a showmance?
Could it be that Cory, in need of a higher profile, and desperate for political leverage, has a vested interest in besmirching all conservative competition, and differentiating himself from even the Coalition's staunchest Queen-loving, same-sex-marriage-refusing, Trump-curious members?
In the battle between bromance and political self-interest, never back the bro.
16 comments
Comment are now closed