Ousted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull re-entered the political debate to stop MP Craig Kelly winning automatic pre-selection.

Mr Kelly, one of the right-wing conservatives responsible for pushing Mr Turnbull out of office, faces a tough battle to win preselection for his seat of Hughes.

With Mr Kelly refusing to rule out becoming a crossbencher if the Liberal Party doesn’t select him, powerbrokers were yesterday working on tweaking rules to ensure the preselection battled needn’t even occur.

But Mr Turnbull was having none of that.

In a series of tweets on Sunday night, Mr Turnbull said to rig the rules to help Mr Kelly slip back into power would be a “capitulation”.

“Indeed it would be the worst and weakest response to such a threat,” he wrote.

“It is time for the Liberal Party members in Hughes to have their say about their local member and decide who they want to represent them.”

It was a bad night for Mr Kelly, who was also confirmed to have been in a public slanging match with a local at a gym.

Today I learned there was a move to persuade the State Executive to re-endorse Craig Kelly as Liberal candidate for Hughes in order to avoid a preselection – in other words to deny Liberal Party members in Hughes the opportunity to have their say.

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) December 2, 2018

I subsequently spoke with several State Executive members to express my strong view that the Party’s democratic processes should operate in the normal way especially after such a long debate in the NSW Liberal Party about the importance of grass roots membership involvement.

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) December 2, 2018

Shortly after, my media adviser was contacted by The Australian and the Daily Telegraph about these discussions, so rather than wait for their version of events to be published tomorrow, I can state that I am strongly of the view that the normal democratic process should proceed.

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) December 2, 2018

It has been put to me that Mr Kelly has threatened to go to the cross bench and “bring down the Government”. If indeed he has made that threat, it is not one that should result in a capitulation. Indeed it would be the worst and weakest response to such a threat.

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) December 2, 2018

It is time for the Liberal Party members in Hughes to have their say about their local member and decide who they want to represent them.

— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) December 2, 2018

The Big Guns are weighing in on the issue with Ben Fordham.

Graham Richardson says Mr Turnbull “is trying to set a new low for himself”.

“Almost every time I hear him, he’s having yet another go at the party which discarded him. You’d think he’d get over it,” he tells Ben.

“But instead of that, he shows that lack of character, that nastiness that I think is so inbred into him.

“I just think people are sick and tired of Malcolm Turnbull.”

Andrew Bolt tells Ben it’s “a single-minded campaign of devastation”.

“And when you look at the energy that is invested in getting square, getting even, bad mouthing Scott Morrison behind the scenes… the whole picture is right there, he wants to destroy the Liberals, not save them.”

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