Well, you know, it wasn't... it was, ah... it was nasty and personal and vicious, but a lot of politics, sadly, is like that. JOHN HOWARD: How much would you credit him with the fact that Australia has retained the constitutional system that we have? I mean, how much would you say he's... JOHN HOWARD: Oh, I'd give him... he's one of the dozen or so people who played a major role. TONY ABBOTT (7 March 1994): I played a couple of halves of rugby for Manly on the weekend and wasn't so good for the facial good looks... LIZ JACKSON: It's March 1994. Tony Abbott is 36 and about to enter Parliament. LIZ JACKSON: The big guns of the Liberal Party are at his campaign launch for the Blue Ribbon seat of Warringah; a wealthy electorate that covers Sydney's Northern beaches. John Hewson was still hanging on as party leader. Tony Abbott defeated 13 other candidates to win pre-selection for this safe seat; reportedly with an impressive speech and an impressive list of referees. They included radio broadcaster Alan Jones, and Liberal power broker John Howard. JOHN HOWARD: I think it helped because I had a lot of currency in the party organisation in New South Wales. That was 1994, and I had a lot of, I guess, currency; that people would take some notice of what I said. And it no doubt helped him. JOHN HEWSON: So congratulations Tony, we're delighted to be here, and we might get