{"id":474874,"date":"2026-02-12T10:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T10:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/474874\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T10:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T10:27:09","slug":"support-firms-for-angus-taylor-to-win-liberal-leadership-though-ley-expected-to-achieve-good-result","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/474874\/","title":{"rendered":"Support firms for Angus Taylor to win Liberal leadership, though Ley expected to achieve ‘good result’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Support is firming for Angus Taylor to topple Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, as more MPs abandon the shadow ministry.<\/p>\n

Senators Michaelia Cash and James McGrath, \u2014 a supporter of Ms Ley \u2014 are the latest to resign, with Senator McGrath’s decision to support a leadership spill all but guaranteeing the motion will succeed.<\/p>\n

Dan Tehan also resigned from his post as Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions reduction, announcing in a statement his intention to run for the deputy position.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A meeting of the Liberal party room to discuss the leadership has been called for Friday at 9am.<\/p>\n

With Ms Ley holding onto power by only two votes since the ballot in May, only a couple of defections to Mr Taylor would be needed for him to succeed.<\/p>\n

Liberal sources in both the Ley and Taylor camps acknowledge that support is firming for the conservative challenger Mr Taylor.<\/p>\n

However one supporter of Ms Ley said she was still expected to receive a “good result”.<\/p>\n

\"Sussan<\/p>\n

Sussan Ley only narrowly won the leadership ballot against Mr Taylor in May. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

McGrath’s resignation a ‘shift’<\/p>\n

In a statement Queensland senator James McGrath confirmed his resignation.<\/p>\n

“While I realise this news won’t please everyone, it is important that Australia has a strong and effective Opposition,” Senator McGrath said.<\/p>\n

“I want to acknowledge the service of Sussan Ley as Leader of the Opposition, and I want to thank her for the privilege of serving in shadow cabinet.”<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

James McGrath and Michaelia Cash both resigned from the shadow ministry on Thursday afternoon. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n

Speaking on ABC Afternoon Briefing, fellow Ley supporter Paul Scarr acknowledged Senator McGrath’s defection was a “shift”.<\/p>\n

“James [McGrath] is a very good friend of mine, he has given his heart and soul \u2026 I know he will be doing it in what he believes is the best interests of the party,” Mr Scarr said.<\/p>\n

“Whoever wins tomorrow I think it is going to be reasonably close.”<\/p>\n

Earlier on Thursday a wave of Liberal shadow ministers, including senior Liberals Jonno Duniam and James Paterson, announced their intention to resign in order to support Mr Taylor in a leadership challenge.<\/p>\n

But Senator McGrath’s resignation is the first from an ally of Ms Ley.<\/p>\n

Liberal MPs have also been privately canvassing colleagues over contesting for the deputy Liberal leadership.<\/p>\n

The ABC has reported moderate Tim Wilson, the only Liberal to win a seat at the 2025 election, is among those sounding out colleagues<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However only sitting deputy Ted O’Brien and backbencher Jane Hume are confirmed to be running in tomorrow morning’s contest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Support is firming for Angus Taylor to topple Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, as more MPs abandon the shadow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[155074,43,1871,4273,44,115738,2325,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-474874","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-angus-taylor","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-leadership","11":"tag-liberal","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-spill","14":"tag-sussan-ley","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}