While the frustrations that led to Malcolm Turnbull turning up the heat on Tony Abbott and his supporters on Wednesday have been well documented, the reality is if the PM had the power to stop his arch political enemy he would have acted a long time ago.
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Mr Abbott, who never gave up the belief he was unfairly robbed of the fruits of his 2013 election win by ungrateful members of his own team, has a unique vision of what the Liberals should be.
It is pretty much the manifesto he took to the electorate almost half a decade ago and was reiterated in his recent Institute of Public Affairs address in Brisbane.
The key points now headline his website and include two and three word mantras such as "Fix the Parliament", "Make Australia Safe" and "Celebrate Australia".
While, on closer examination, some of Mr Abbott's more complex policy positions which include the construction of "another big coal-fired power station... as soon as possible" and "a big slowdown in immigration" come across as an attempt to repeal the 21st century, he is clearly up with recent events.
The headline slogan, "Let's make Australia work again", sounds a lot like Donald Trump's now widely lampooned, but effective at the time, "Let's make America great again".
Mr Turnbull is far from amused. On Wednesday he told his MPs they had to toe the party line; whatever that happens to be right here and right now. Mr Abbott and moderate Liberal MPs, Dean Smith and Trent Zimmerman, were clearly in his sights.
Mr Abbott's major goal appears to be his continued attempt to swing the Liberals even further to the right.
Mr Smith and Mr Zimmerman, on the other hand, are urging a shift to the centre, which happens to be where the most votes are. They have proposed a private members bill on same-sex marriage that could end that long running impasse once and for all.
The real message is the Liberals have always been a broad church. Those, including Mr Abbott, who now complain the party is moving left need to remember it is still well to the right of where it was on immigration, refugees, social services and housing in the 1970s and 1980s.
Malcolm Fraser's response to the Vietnamese refugee crisis was worlds away from the positions currently held by the Coalition and the Labor Party.
Compromise and the establishment of a consensus are crucial to the operation of any political party. This is particularly the case with the Liberals whose movement embraces strong centrist and right wing traditions.
If Mr Abbott and the others of his ilk are not willing to play a team game they should follow Cory Bernardi, who at least had the decency to say he could not work within those constraints, out the door.
