According to a report on Media Watch on 8 February, Rupert Murdoch brought Tony Abbott as his guest at a banquet in Washington which President Obama attended.

Several of the Murdoch papers in Australia suggested that this was a personal meeting between Tony Abbott and President Obama. It was nothing of the sort. It was a cocktail party and lunch attended by 100 guests and presumably President Obama shook Tony Abbott’s hand, but it seems it was nothing more than that.

It says something about Murdoch’s political judgement that he took an ex prime minister to this lunch. Surely he would have known that inviting tony Abbott as his guest would likely antagonise Prime Minister Turnbull. Or was that his intention?

In any event, it was a beat-up from beginning to end.

See link to Media Watch below:

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4402700.htm