Stripped of the spin, what Zed Seselja said on Monday was this: he'd done a good job as Canberra Liberals leader in five years of opposition, that under his leadership the party had gone from being a rabble to a seriously competitive outfit and that he was perfectly entitled to have a crack at something else.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He also added that, when in opposition, it was reasonable to look at other options.
All fair enough. But he also said he didn't know who he would support as his leadership successor.
Yeah. Right.
It's hard to accept that Seselja doesn't have a clear plan about who he's going to back as the next leader.
The speculation will be around three men: Jeremy Hanson, Alistair Coe and Brendan Smyth.
Hanson has been seen as the next leader since about 2010, halfway into his first term. But his lack of caucus support meant he was never a chance while Seselja was still interested in the job, and everyone knew it.
Coe has a lot of ability, but he's only 28, looks younger and may be a hard sell.
That both are only one-term politicians matters less than you may think. It's nearly four years until the next poll and, in the ACT, oppositions can get away with a lot, or doing very little, between elections.
So, by the time the electorate is paying serious attention again, either option will be experienced enough to challenge Katy Gallagher.
That leaves Smyth, the most experienced, after Gary Humphries, and probably the territory's most professional politician.
But he's been around forever, is old hat with voters and has lost a few elections as deputy or leader.
Whether or not Smyth fancies the top job again, that knowledge will be a valuable resource for a new leader with perhaps a quarter of Smyth's political experience.
It's also worth noting that, in losing Seselja, the Liberals lose their best political and electoral performer.
His entourage, which is also leaving, contains much of the brains that put together the 2012 campaign considered by many the most brutally effective in territory history.
And Seselja taking his enormous Brindabella personal vote to the Senate leaves the dream of a lasting Liberal bastion in Tuggeranong looking, well, just that.