As he surveys the degraded and demoralised Liberal Party he presides over, Angus Taylor has two major problems – and that’s leaving aside One Nation.

The first is that his own performance is often cack-handed. The second is he is not, as the saying goes, meeting the voters where they are. He should – in theory – be able to tackle the former. The latter is more fundamental.

It always surprises how often Taylor comes out with the wrong line, or is caught out without an answer to an obvious question. Like, after his robust attack last week on One Nation, saying this week that he’d made it “with a heavy heart”. Or recently when, quizzed to the point of embarrassment, he couldn’t say whether he embraced multiculturalism. (Obvious answer: yes, but I want to improve it.)

Taylor struggles to engage properly in media encounters, appearing to think his “lines”, often slogans or cliches, will get him through. (Contrast NSW Premier Chris Minns, or Liberal senator James Paterson, who engage with questions, answer directly where they can, or make it clear if they won’t.)

But Taylor is also trying not to say anything that will put him further offside with the “base”, and that leads him into verbal mazes.

He should be able to be fully prepped and prepared for media appearances. That’s what staff are for. Those around him remark on his intelligence, and despair of his lack of political deftness.

The mismatch between where the public are and what the Liberals are expounding is a much deeper........

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