Malcolm Turnbull Prime Minister: Tony Abbott defeated in Liberal leadership spill

MALCOLM Turnbull has ousted Prime Minister Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal party in a leadership spill tonight.

Mr Turnbull secured 54 votes to Tony Abbott’s 44 with one informal vote.

Julie Bishop was elected as Deputy Leader in a ballot against Kevin Andrews winning 70 votes to 30.

Ninety-eight votes were cast for the leader’s position and 100 votes were cast for the deputy position (70-30). One Liberal party member was only in the room for the deputy’s vote (Michael Ronaldson), but one other person in the room clearly did not vote formally.

Back in February, one MP wrote ‘PASS’ on a ballot paper during a motion calling for a leadership spill.

Earlier today Malcolm Turnbull handed down a scathing assessment of Tony Abbott’s time as Prime Minister saying change was needed for the sake of the country.