Alan Jones contacted Liberal MPs to change leader

Outspoken radio host and Sky News commentator Alan Jones has admitted he contacted two Liberal MPs to urge change within the party during last weekâs leadership spill.
Mr Jones told ABCâs 7.30 on Monday night that one of the MPs was the Member for Bennelong John Alexander, but refused to name the other.
âI contacted certain MPs, yes,â the 2GB host said.
âAnd encouraged them to recognise that if they wanted to go, Australia wanted to go the same way, there had to be change,â Mr Jones told 7.30.
âI didnât turn against (Malcolm) Turnbull, but I turned against the (energy) policy,â he said.
âI contacted JA [John Alexander] and said this is critical stuff, youâve really got to think about this, the partyâs got to change direction.â
While he did not name the other MP contacted, Mr Jones was adamant he did not speak to cabinet ministers Mathias Cormann, Michaelia Cash or Mitch Fifield.
Mr Jones said he supported Mr Turnbull at the 2016 federal election, but the âwriting was on the wallâ for the Liberals.
âI tried to help Malcolm Turnbull at the last election because I thought it was a better option than the then-Labor Party,â he said.
âIt is Australia that matters here ⌠when people canât afford electricity, for goodness sake.â
Mr Jonesâ revelations come a week after Channel Nine political reporter Chris Uhlmann named him as one of the key media figures who helped bring down Malcolm Turnbullâs leadership.
"News Corp âŚare waging a war against the Prime Minister of Australia" â @CUhlmann #9Today pic.twitter.com/OBHOHOTzon
â The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) August 25, 2018
Former editor of the Herald Sun and editorial co-founder of The New Daily, Bruce Guthrie, wrote in a column last week that it was no surprise the PM was deposed only weeks after Mr Murdoch visited Australia.
He pointed to a campaign by the Murdoch-owned press to force a change of leadership, âaided by an army of Sydney shock jocks, notably Alan Jones, Ray Hadley and Paul Murrayâ.
Mr Jonesâ admission on Monday night also came after Mr Turnbullâs outgoing speech on Friday, in which he said he had been toppled by a âdetermined insurgencyâ backed by powerful voices in the media.
Mr Jones denied the claims and said he âcouldnât careâ that the former prime minister probably had him in mind in his speech.
âItâs immaterial to me ⌠I suppose so. In his eyes, yes, Iâm sure I am,â Mr Jones said.
âIâm here to express an opinion and I express it strongly. I think Iâve been saying for months and months and months, there had to be two changes â leadership change and policy change,â he added.
âI think everybody has conceded, we donât want to overstate the case, that Turnbull was hopeless.
âMy position has been completely consistent. I said the day that Turnbull stabbed Abbott in the back, that this would end in tears. Well, itâs ended in tears and anger.â
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