Can Speakman survive his party’s killing season?

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A stunning intervention from Photios was on display on Wednesday on the front page of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph. His lobbying firm, Premier National, commissioned research from little-known pollster DemosAU, which also carried out polling for Photios in other eastern states. The results in NSW surprised no one. As the Herald’s regular Resolve Political Monitor has shown over the past months, the NSW Liberals are going backwards, largely due to brand damage from the federal election disaster but also because they are no match for Premier Chris Minns. The Coalition is on track to not only stay in opposition but to lose seats to Labor, putting government even further out of conservative reach. What was truly incredible was that Photios made no secret of his firm being behind the polling that was presented as the necessary catalyst to blast Speakman out of the job. His chief executive, Lachlan Crombie, was quoted in the story, just to add further weight to the theory that Photios wants Speakman gone. Photios has been close to the leadership chatter for some time. He was spotted in August, locked in a conversation with Vaucluse MP Kellie Sloane, at the eastern suburbs wedding of Woollahra mayor Sarah Dixson and former Coalition staffer Andrew Dixson. Their lengthy discussion fuelled talk that Photios was backing the former television journalist Sloane.