Tony Abbott is a dual citizen. At least that’s what the ABC appears to be desperate to suggest. Not overtly. But they just like to keep the element of doubt there as a little sop of their own to our barmy birther brigade.

The former PM — along with that other recent British-born occupant of the top job, Julia Gillard — was the original target of the bothersome barrister behind the whole dual citizenship palaver, Perth resident John Cameron.