Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Industry, Infrastructure and Industrial Relations) Share this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister summarised it nicely on the Insiders program in the middle of July. That was about the time when the Treasurer was trailing his coat, suggesting that he ought to be the Leader of the Liberal Party and the Prime Minister. John Howard, never one to miss a trick when it comes to the internal operations of the Liberal Party, wanted to make sure that the Treasurer could not whisper in any Liberal Party backbench member’s ear and say, ‘I’ll be softer on IR than Johnny, so you can vote for me in the caucus.’ John Howard said—

See this speech in context