Man behind push to expel Malcolm Turnbull from the Liberal Party was himself banned for ten years

The man behind a push to expel Malcolm Turnbull from the Liberal Party for life was himself banned from joining the party for ten years after running against long-time party stalwart Philip Ruddock.

9News has learned Christian Ellis, an operative of the party's conservative right faction, jumped ship to the Family First party in 2010. He ran against Mr Ruddock, a former federal attorney-general, in the northern Sydney seat of Berowra when his factional ally Tony Abbott was leader.

Mr Ellis managed 840 primary votes compared to Mr Ruddock's 51,416 and was banned from joining the Liberal Party for ten years.

The ban was overturned a couple of years later.

In the wake of Mr Turnbull's tell-all autobiography, late yesterday afternoon Mr Ellis sent an email to the state executive of the NSW Liberals, requesting an extraordinary meeting pushing to ban the former prime minister from the party for life.

"Malcolm Turnbull has shown in the last few weeks how he is not a servant of the Liberal Party, but himself," Mr Ellis said in the email.

"I intend to move for the immediate expulsion of Malcolm Turnbull from the Liberal Party."

Liberal Party rules do not offer an option for members to vote on lifetime bans, but they can suspend membership.

Senior NSW Liberal sources were outraged at the hypocrisy of Mr Ellis.

"This guy opposed the Liberal Party in the 2010 election, standing against Philip Ruddock when conservative hero Tony Abbott was leading the Party," the source told 9News.

"The hypocrisy is appalling, and whilst there's no love for Turnbull, party members are quite upset with this publicity stunt."

Mr Ellis' motion is doomed to fail, as the moderate faction of the NSW Liberal Party controls the numbers on its state executive.