Howards been 'tapped'

Question Time on September 11 came at a time when the Howard Government was under immense pressure to step up and make comment or more importantly actually answer the question everyone is asking. As Sky News reported John Howard had lost the backing of key ministers, and the general population wanted to know, ‘Who will be leading the Liberals into the next election? Parliament was in a tailspin and the media was playing it for all it was worth. The Daily Telegraph's three pages of coverage the next day read more like a comic strip rather than a committee hearing with more 'suggestive' photos than a night at the uni bar may have you collect. The ‘coup that never happened’ (Daily Telegraph September 12, 2007) involved a request from Howard to Alexander Downer to canvas senior colleagues on their thoughts on whether he should stay on as leader of the Liberal Party, an activity, Howard claims, is carried out regularly.
Well it seems this time the issue was a little contentious and word leaked to the media that these ‘senior colleagues’ weren’t so supportive after all. And so Sky ran.. far and long to the point were the Australians believed Howard was about to be ‘tapped’ and the government about to crumble in the face of in-house bickering and a rumor mill in overdrive.

Official comment eventually came from Howard himself, Brendan Nelson, Tony Abbott and Downer, who fronted the press gallery and publicly denied claims Howard had lost party support.
The paper in this case hit the nail on the head with a frame of Peter Costello during Question Time looking deflated and distracted however was the perfect reflection of the media attention paid to just how little support he has amongst the electorate, with only 28% believing he has the credentials to lead the party. As one of very few who declined to comment on the who debacle it begs the question, is he but one ‘senior colleague’ who’s silence speaks louder than words?