Australian opposition leader Sussan Ley, the first woman to head the Liberal Party, is facing a leadership challenge from her shadow defence minister after he resigned from the front bench.
Angus Taylor confirmed he would run for the leadership on Thursday, saying the country was in “trouble” and that the Liberal Party “has lost its way”.
Ley narrowly defeated Taylor in a leadership contest last year, after her party’s worst ever election loss. But since then she has been plagued by poor poll numbers and infighting among the conservative Liberal-National coalition.
The partnership, which dates back to the 1940s, has twice split and reunited under her leadership, further undermining her tenure.
Taylor – from the conservative faction of the party as opposed to Ley’s moderate wing – on Wednesday announced he had quit the party leadership team. Local media say he has long been plotting to oust Ley.
“We have failed to hold a bad Labor government to account,” he told reporters, adding that the party needed to “protect Australians’ way of life” and “focus on restoring their standard of living”.
He said he did not believe Ley was “in a position to be able to lead the party as it needs to be led from here”.
After his announcement on Thursday, several of his Liberal colleagues also submitted their front bench resignations, including shadow home affairs minister Jonno Duniam and shadow finance minister James Paterson.
According to local media, Taylor’s supporters have requested a special party room meeting to consider a so-called spill motion, which would mean the party’s leadership is up for contest. Such a meeting could come as soon as Thursday, but would be up to Ley’s discretion.
Ley has yet to publicly comment on the leadership challenge but her supporters told local media she was considering the spill motion request.
A victory for Taylor would put an end to months of speculation around Ley’s leadership, which has never seemed secure.
The coalition reunited after its most recent split just days ago, following a row over hate speech laws for which Ley had pushed after the Bondi Beach attack in December, but which her Nationals colleagues refused to support.
When announcing the initial split in January, Nationals leader David Littleproud pointedly said his party could not serve in a shadow cabinet under Ley.
A series of recent polls have shown the populist One Nation party – which only got 6% of the national vote last year – overtaking the Coalition to take second place behind Labor. Ley’s personal ratings are also poor.
The coalition has failed to agree on what caused its crushing election defeat to Labor, which saw the Liberals all but wiped out in the major cities.
Immediately after the election the coalition briefly split amid argument over climate and energy policy including its commitment to a net-zero emissions by 2050 policy, which the Liberals later agreed to abandon under pressure from the Nationals and its own right-wing.
The Nationals are based in rural areas and lean more conservative than the Liberals. Political analysts say the recent surge in One Nation support has pushed them further to the right in a bid to win back votes at a time when the Liberals need to appeal to more centrist voters in the cities.