If Sussan Ley can stare down her party rivals in Canberra next week, she’s likely to avoid a very unwelcome political milestone by ensuring Alexander Downer keeps his record as the shortest serving Liberal leader ever.

The besieged Opposition Leader needs to keep her job until January 20 to eclipse the former Foreign Minister’s forgettable tenure of eight months and seven days, which ended when John Howard returned to the Liberal leadership for a second time in January 1995.

For the next decade both men would go on to dominate the political landscape; Downer as Australia’s longest-serving foreign minister, and Howard as the country’s second-longest-serving PM

Ley’s immediate goals however are much more modest; limping through next week’s final parliamentary sitting of the year will in t

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