ANDREW Laming has blamed former Prime Minister Scott Morrison for the unravelling of his political career, claiming he was not given the opportunity to properly defend himself against allegations aired in the media.
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Mr Laming told the Redland City Bulletin in a recent interview that the claims levelled against him last year, which included allegations of harassment, were "ultimately baseless" and had "failed to materialise".
The LNP blocked Mr Laming from recontesting his long-held federal seat after he was ordered into empathy training and failed to withdraw his preselection nomination.
Now, the long-serving Bowman MP has opened up on the treatment he claims to have received from the former Prime Minister, saying he was "cut loose" and never given an opportunity to tell his side of the story.
"Scott Morrison was the issue," Mr Laming said.
"He abandoned me during a period where he was at his weakest in the gender debate and was dealing with Brittany Higgins ... rather than giving me a chance to provide my version of events.
"None of my colleagues could comment and then the whole media just basically attacked me. I hold him accountable for the lack of due process.
"The party stood by me and stuck to the process and timeline. This kind of conduct always pops up in preselection periods so it is up to me to manage it ... but I was unable to because [of] Scott Morrison."
Mr Laming claims the former Prime Minister admitted there was "nothing of substance" to the media allegations before going on to publicly condemn his behaviour.
"The following day, after the TV show had run [about allegations of harassment], he gave this appalling press conference at Parkville [in Melbourne] which I will never forget," he said.
The former backbencher now has his sights set on a state government tilt, revealing in an interview with the Bulletin last week that it was a "possibility" he would run for the LNP in a Labor-held Redlands seat.
"I'm interested, but if there is someone good, dynamic and committed, I'm going to help them win and I would like them to be the candidate," he said.
Mr Laming said it was time for the Liberals to consider forming a metro party after the federal election loss, as the political divide was becoming increasingly geographic.
"I think the commentators saying we need to go further to the right are misinterpreting what happened," he said.
"When you have a geographic divide, you need to divide your parties that way. As long as we are a coalition, this increasing geographic divide is a problem for us.
"I have never been a supporter of breaking the coalition, but I argue the results from the last election have shown that we need a metro liberal party, which is a move to the centre."
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