Brendan Nelson

Yeah.

And Peter Costello, um, sorry, and Brendan Nelson said whilst he was leader, if Peter ever wants to become leader, I will immediately resign to allow him to become the leader, which once again was, I think, indicative of a leader who put the party and the team before themselves.

So what was the story with Costello then?

Look, Peter Costello had been deputy leader and then treasurer for quite some time.

And my view was, which I expressed to him, that he was entitled to take a sabbatical on the back bench for 12 months or so.

And that Brendan Nelson, should he ever want the leadership, Brendan would step down in his favour.

But I think, yeah, Peter was of the view that he had given as much as he could to and that we would be in opposition for at least two terms.

But should have Costello seized it before the 2007 election, do you think?

So how do you balance that? I've always, I've never taken myself, I've been accused of being egotistical and narcissistic.

I think Brendan Nelson famously called me that when he gave When Brendan gave some interview in which he described me as being a terrible narcissist, and he was very angry, of course, because I'd replaced him as Liberal Party leader.

I get that.

But when he gave his valedictory speech in Parliament, it felt like the first ten minutes was probably only the first three or four minutes talking about the stud in his ear.

Well, that's our Kevin.

Actually, as it happens, I met my wife through politics when I worked in Brendan Nelson's office as an electorate staffer.

Well, there you go.

And she was there.