John Howard, 'greatest living Liberal', awarded lifetime party membership
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Version 0 of 1. The “greatest living Liberal”, former prime minister John Howard, has been recognised with lifetime party membership in Sydney. The prime minister, Tony Abbott, the Liberal incumbent, and Mike Baird, the New South Wales premier, presented the honour to Howard and his wife, Janette, whom he often dubbed his “focus group of one”. The Howards received a standing ovation that lasted so long they had to motion for audience members to resume their seats. Abbott told those gathered at the Liberal party’s state council on Saturday morning that Howard was “my friend, my mentor, someone I will always regard as the prime minister emeritus of our country”. Howard paid tribute to Abbott for bringing an end to the seven-year “travail” that was the Rudd-Gillard Labor government, “of whom we are being ever so gently reminded by the ABC”. The jibe was a reference to the broadcaster’s Killing Season documentary – an anatomy of the leadership tussle between the last two Labor prime ministers. The former prime minister urged his fellow Liberals to embrace a broader membership base, saying bowing to factional bosses would be poison to the party. “We are a party of reform but we are also a party of tradition, and you can marry the two,” Howard said. |