The Federal
Liberal Party seethed
with angst and ambition when PM John Howard
refused to retire. It was thought Little
Johnny would gracefully
step aside for the
ever smiling
Treasurer , Peter Costello, and disappear in his
track suit and dorky Akubra to coach the
Pakistan Cricket Team , allegedly sponsored by the reclusive
Osama bin Laden . But Howard would not play
ball and made vague statements about the succession,
just to keep
Costello smiling
/ gritting his teeth.
To make
the situation absolutely
clear, the then Federal
Health Minister, Tony
Abbott , explained , below , what
might happen if
Howard survived the election .
He presented a scenario
as clear as
a cloudy midstream
specimen, which prompted
the popular SCRATCHIE
at the head of the post, authorised by
Tim Gartrell , ACT,
printed by the
Kosdown Company, Port
Melbourne .
As
it turned out , Howard
led the Coalition
to
a loss, was levered out of his seat, his fingernails dragging down the wallpaper in
the process
; Costello packed his electric
toothbrush and departed in high dudgeon
. It
was revealed that
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer
had asked Howard to
step aside, but
he refused
to do so and
the timid Tories retreated.
