All hail Malcolm the Second

Another related criticism is the "sell-out" factor. Such critics remind me of teenagers who, having discovered an underground band they love, then grow to hate the band if it achieves chart success. It seems to me that a supporter who wants their band to remain forever an underground phenomenon is exactly the kind of supporter one doesn't need. Anybody who resents the stadium success of their favourite band is no true fan, but rather a mean-spirited “cliquer” who merely wants to indulge their vanity by hanging out backstage with the group.

Thus the criticisms of Turnbull derive from a frustrated nexus of righteous envy, puritan impotence, and teenage resentment of the independent act that got too successful. In rejecting those criticisms, we can instead seek to cultivate an outward-looking public attitude, a receptiveness to opportunity, and a willingness to fight on the battlefield instead of shaking our fist at the landscape. These are qualities that I believe Australians would find in a Prime Minister Turnbull.

And yet, just as some commentators have wondered idly this year whether Australians would vote for a Prime Minister named Kevin, we should also ask whether Australians will vote, a second time, for one named Malcolm?

For there is always the intensely subjective and visceral matter of personal chemistry. Simply put, Malcolm Turnbull gets on a lot of people's nerves. Fairly or unfairly, many write him off as too abrasive, arrogant or infuriating to ever succeed at winning votes. Others consider him charming and gracious. As with most people, he probably exhibits each of these qualities at different times in different settings.

While I cannot dispute people's individual reactions, I can only ask critics to consider the oft-quoted maxim that politics is show-business for ugly people. When you consider the rogues' gallery of political figures that have adorned public life in recent decades - the dotty, the febrile, the inebriated, the cadaverous, the slack-jawed, the shrill, the braying and baleful, and the just plain distasteful (and I'm talking about the successful ones) - it seems to me unlikely that Turnbull could turn away any more votes than could any other politician selected at random.

Of course, many would rate the chances of Turnbull winning the Prime Ministership from his present position as being about as likely as Howard's in the days of Mr 18 per cent. But as Mr 18 per cent found out, the times could yet suit him. In the likely event of a 2007 electoral rout, let us hope the Liberal Party disowns its holier-than-thou puritans and reaches for a more enlightened leadership.

Then again, perhaps the Honourable Member should have joined the ALP when he had the chance.