Guy Beres

The news that former Treasurer Peter Costello is set to publish his memoirs in early October this year is not particularly good news for the Liberal Party. Apart from the fact that it represents a certain negative publicity time bomb waiting to go off in a few months, it also seems certain to provide ongoing grist to the rumour mill regarding the the leadership. Costello has already asserted through the media that his memoirs would not be a Latham Diaries style book of bile, but rather would seek to provide direction for the Liberal Party moving forwards. It is unclear whether the underlying motivating factor for publishing his memoirs so soon is to repay a debt he feels he owes to the party, or perhaps to provide a foundation for some resurgent leadership ambitions:

Peter Costello has vowed to identify the way forward for the Liberal Party in soon-to-be-published memoirs, igniting speculation that he will use the book to relaunch his political career and seek the Opposition leadership.

…

Mr Costello hinted that his memoirs would not focus exclusively on the past and would represent “a very positive contribution of where we are now, how far we’ve come, where we ought to go in the future”.

When it comes to the question of the leadership, I am in agreement with the senior members of the Liberal Party who believe that Costello should have taken the reins when they were handed to him if he really did want it. No doubt there are some conservative supporters who see a return of Costello to the leadership as a possible path for returning to the success of the Howard years. Those supporters need only consider the sorts of compelling and utterly effective attacks that the Rudd Government could make on Costello if he did try to return after throwing it all away last November. Now, folks like Kim Beazley will no doubt be thinking, who is the one who didn’t have the ticker?

By taking a leaf out of Iron Mark’s book without declaring his hand openly, Costello seems to be betraying that he is is still a little undecided about his future. At least Mark Latham had the good sense to exit politics before plunging a dagger into his own party. Costello would do well to do the same before his book is released, and to put an end to speculation about his future as soon as possible.

Tags: Costello Diaries, Mark Latham, Peter Costello

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 9:05 pm and is filed under Nelson Opposition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.