Tony Abbott stole Malcolm Turnbull's thunder this week. Twit of the Week: Simon Crean. LAST Sunday opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull was allowed to appear on one of the Sunday morning political programs, the first time Abbott's office has let him do so in more than a year. Which is why it was a little unkind that Tony Abbott called a media conference near his home in Manly at the exact same time Turnbull was due to start his interview. Coincidence or deliberate? An incompetent bit of planning by Abbott's people or intentional overshadowing of Turnbull? Worst of all, Turnbull and Abbott spoke shortly before Malcolm went on air. Turnbull rang his leader to ensure that he was "on message." Abbott didn't even bother to mention his looming media conference when they spoke. TIMING is everything in politics and the PM timed Thursday's caucus meeting perfectly to maximise her support, thus retaining the leadership without even needing a ballot. However, the timing of Tuesday's caucus meeting was less ideal - or, more accurately, the timing of taking the official photo of caucus which preceded the gathering was. Forced smiles all round, under the circumstances. That's one for the pool room. THE ministerial resignations AFTER the Labor leadership spill by a brace of Kevin Rudd supporters was a major strategic error. They needed to resign BEFORE the spill, creating the kind of chaos that brought more people over to the Rudd camp, giving their man a majority. Learning from the tactics of others was the order of the day. When conservatives in the Liberal Party wanted to remove Malcolm Turnbull from the leadership in 2009 they resigned one after another. The end result, Tony Abbott beat Turnbull by a solitary vote. HOW can we go past Simon Crean? His intentions were honourable, he was trying to force much-needed change. The only problem was that when he jumped over the trench with bayonet affixed and ready to charge, no one was behind him.