Alex Hawke the Greek background former minister for multicultural affairs in Scott Morrison’s routed government is now appears to be the target of former prime minister Tony Abbott and Liberal Party right-wingers.

Mr Hawke is accused of masterminding a plot to have the party’s New South Wales branch dissolved so more moderate candidates could be installed without a vote of grassroots members. Former prime minister Tony Abbott said last week that “heads have got to roll” in the NSW Liberals for “those who’d played the factional game” and there is little doubt who he meant.

In an increasingly divided party, some back a plan by Senator Andrew Bragg to cut what are seen as factional warriors like Mr Hawke out of pre-selections.

Open pre-selections became official Liberal policy after party members voted for reform five years ago, only to ignore it this year.

Mr Hawke was successful despite attacks from right-wing media commentators like Alan Jones, Miranda Devine, and Peta Credlin.

Mr Hawke was the long-time ally and staffer for David Clarke, leader of the dominant faction in NSW called “the Taliban” for its members’ uncompromising right-wing views.

After Mr Clarke supported his protege’s preselection for the seat of Mitchell, Mr Hawke battled him for control of political territory, which he won.

Mr Hawke, it is said, created his own political faction – a more pragmatic centrist faction- known to his detractors as the “ambition faction” for employing tactics by moderates and conservatives.

Neos Kosmos had been dealing with Mr Hawke on the issues of multicultural media and COVID communications for diverse communities since 2021. An avid supporter of multiculturalism, Mr Hawke seemed to have moved to a more moderate position in the Liberal Party.

Mr Hawke’s shift to a moderate position raised the ire of the right in the NSW Liberal party. Unnamed Liberals say that Mr Hawke was the plot leader who voted for Peter Dutton in a leadership spill to make him overconfident, and then prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, wounded, called all to help undeclared candidate Scott Morrison.

The new leader of the Liberals Peter Dutton laden with the memory of that event, also took a vailed swipe at Mr Hawke last week, “There’s a lot of cleaning up to do in the NSW division of the Liberal Party.”

Mr Dutton’s deputy, Sussan Ley, has denied involvement in the factions, but party sources have long said she aligns with Mr Hawke’s more pragmatic and moderate conservative faction.

Leading up to the election, Mr Hawke did not show up to 10 months’ of meetings on a Liberal panel reviewing pre-selections, on which he represented Mr Morrison.

Nominations stalled; so, the factions tried to broker a deal in secret.

Seats at stake included Mr Hawke’s seat of Mitchell, under threat from a long list of aggrieved parties, Ms Ley’s seat and Trent Zimmerman’s former seat of North Sydney and nine “winnable” contests.

Alex Hawke was active in the preselection battle involving Sussan Ley and Trent Zimmerman.

Neos Kosmos sought comment from Mr Hawke but had not heard back at the time of publication. In The New Daily Mr Hawke said by SMS that he was motivated by a desire to protect women candidates for parliament.

A Liberal parliamentarian who also did not want to be named, said to another outlet, that the views in the Canberra party room are shifting.

”Everyone … is starting to twig that Hawke led and Morrison followed him on this.”

A factional peace plan pitched by Mr Hawke failed and the federal Liberal Party had little choice but to back Mr Morrison’s proposal to take over.

Federal Liberal vice president Nick Minchin speaking to The New Daily said that the candidates were endorsed one year too late.

Mr Hawke and Ms Ley kept their seats, as did Jenny Ware in Hughes, held by Craig Kelly, who quit the party in the last parliament, all other hand-picked candidates lost.

A plan to gather support to have Mr Hawke investigated has the backing of some state Liberals in the party’s right and moderate factions.

However, the allegations are old and have not been dealt with and the body responsible for disciplining and expelling party members has moved on them.

The complaint relates to a Liberal branch meeting in suburban Sydney and accuses Mr Hawke and a branch official of falsifying meeting minutes.

The allegation is that 10 members were admitted with no objections but that this decision was reversed over fears they might be factional enemies, a reversal not contained in new minutes.

When the allegations emerged, right-wing media personality Alan Jones called for the case of the Baulkham Hills Branch to “come before the courts” and said Mr Hawke was a “professional branch stacker”.

However, there is no evidence of wrongdoing on Mr Hawke’s part, and Neos Kosmos has no knowledge of any affairs such as those outlined in the complaints.

Since the disastrous election result for the Coalition, what was a backburner issue, is now being reviewed with revived interest.