‘Mad, right-wing ranters’: Laurie Oakes blames Abbott supporters for Turnbull’s turmoil

The Liberal party must silence "mad, right-wing ranters" and unite behind Malcolm Turnbull to have any hope of winning the next federal election, Nine's Political Editor Laurie Oakes has said.

The comments followed the Prime Minister's recent declaration in England that the Liberal party had never been "conservative" - a statement Oakes declared unwise.

"You can't blame Malcolm Turnbull for wanting to fight back," he said on The TODAY Show this morning.

"But the punters don't like to see politicians talking about themselves (and) navel-gazing".

Oakes said voters would have preferred to see Mr Turnbull speaking about issues closer to the majority of Australians, such as energy prices, housing and wages.

Mr Turnbull's comments have been widely construed as a rebuttal of former prime minister Tony Abbott and other members of the Liberal Party's conservative wing, who have been vocally urging the need to embrace conservative policies and positions.

"Tony Abbott and Tony Abbott's supporters have been bagging him up hill and down dale," Oakes said.

"Abbott is determined to destroy Malcolm Turnbull and doesn't seem too concerned about the damage he might be doing to the government's re-election prospects."

Oakes said the Liberal Party was "a mess".

"Do they stick with an unpopular Prime Minister, or go back to one probably even more unpopular and who stuffed the job royally the first time around?"

The beneficiary, he said, was Labor leader Bill Shorten, who had emerged as a credible alternative leader for the country.

However, there was still a chance for the Liberal Party to return to a winning position - if they united behind the Prime Minister.

"If the Liberals manage to shut Abbott and the mad, right-wing ranters up on radio and in various newspapers, I think Malcolm Turnbull could come back and win an election, but they're making it very difficult for him."