The short answer, given the bloody water backed up under the bridge after a string of coups dating back to the dumping of Brendan Nelson, would be "everybody".

The remarkable thing is the latest round of destabilisation, which has put paid to any hope the new Prime Minister had of generating some clear air ahead of next year's poll, isn't being led by Tony Abbott, Peter Dutton, Barnaby Joyce, Mathias Cormann or any of last month's other plotters.

His problem children are Malcolm Turnbull, the man who anointed him as his preferred successor; the former long serving deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop; and the party's revered elder statesman, and Australia's second longest serving PM, John Howard.

Dutton, Abbott, Cormann and company appear to be knuckling down to make the best of a bad lot ahead of what many are touting as electoral armageddon in 2019.

Turnbull, who created an immediate rod for Morrison's back by resigning Wentworth almost straight after he was ousted, has launched a long distance vendetta from off Central Park against Dutton.

While wiser heads would have counselled him to hold back for now, the currently unemployed former Rhodes Scholar, barrister, merchant banker and dot.com entrepreneur was never going to accept rejection lying down.

Turnbull has been using the big apple as a base from which to pressure former parliamentary colleagues to refer Dutton to the High Court over his eligibility to be an MP.

Bishop, who has been vocal on a wide range of issues since moving to backbench, is doing the same.

It's the last thing Morrison, who has been handling Dutton, Abbott, Joyce and company with kid gloves in the wake of the bloodletting, would have ever wanted.

His efforts, unexpectedly successful to date given he is already thrashing Bill Shorten as preferred PM and is more popular than Turnbull was during his last few months, have been directed towards getting the Coalition to next year's election in the best possible shape.

Morrison has tried to break the deadlock on energy policy, apologised for the delay in calling the banking royal commission, said he wants a woman to stand as the party's candidate for Wentworth, and is working hard to appease the warring elements within the Liberals.

You'd think his colleagues would have the wit to rally around given the grim future they face if things continue to fall apart.

Commonsense, unfortunately, is as rare in politics as anywhere else. Even Howard, whose acumen was once legendary, has misspoken by meddling in the Wentworth preselection process.

He is urging Dave Sharma, a former ambassador to Israel, to contest a preselection which desperately needs to proceed as seamlessly as possible.

The Liberals, a party which has been criticised on many occasions, for having a "born to rule" mentality, have proved - yet again - that they aren't even capable of governing themselves.