The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church pumped so much cash and on-the-ground support into the Liberal Party’s 2025 election campaign that some party officials feared the religious sect would hold significant sway over an incoming Peter Dutton government.

Four party sources and two from the extreme separatist church confirmed for the first time the scale of the operation in the months leading into the May 3 federal election, and how deeply enmeshed Brethren elders were in Liberal campaign teams in marginal seats.

The extent of the involvement worried some Liberal campaigners so much they said they had hoped their side would lose.

“I’m glad we didn’t win because … I was scared about what that would have meant,” one experienced Liberal official told this masthead, speaking anonymously beca

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