The volume of Labor Party invective against Tony Abbott has been most impressive.

In the past month they’ve labelled him a financial illiterate, a shameless hypocrite, a policy loose cannon, a health budget vandal, a poor man’s John Howard, a resident nutter, a homophobe, an enemy of women, sex obsessed, the worst-ever Minister of Health, a religious zealot, an irresponsible legislation blocker, a neo-liberal extremist, a dinosaur, a climate anarchist, a person unfit to be prime minister, a work choices threat to working families and, horror of horrors, the new Mark Latham.

Such a comprehensive deluge of abuse doesn’t happen without intensive development and planning and the Labor Party are to be congratulated on designing and sustaining such a tremendous tirade.

Tony also deserves congratulations on becoming the most vilified-ever politician and surpassing the record achieved by Malcolm at the height of the Utegate affair. What’s more this exercise has revealed him as possessing all of the mandatory qualities needed to become prime minister.

It was disappointing however that while Labor’s assault had many admirable qualities it was sadly lacking in wit and style.

It contained nothing in the same class as Paul Keating’s immortal words ‘all tip and no iceberg’, ‘feral abacus’ and ’24 carat pissant’.

And who could forget the sheer resonance of Mark Latham’s nuanced ‘conga line of suckholes’, ‘arselickers’ and ‘skanky ho’.

Labor should have taken the trouble to finesse their Tony trashing with phrases like ‘a budgie in search of a smuggler’, ‘two miracles short of a sainthood’ and ‘a bishop short of a choirboy sex scandal’.

So far Tony’s ripostes to Kevin have also disappointed. ‘Liar’, ‘all hat and no cowboy’ and ‘Dr Death’ are hardly destined for folklore status. “Parliamentary anaethetist’ in the hospitals debate showed a bit of promise.

Arguably the most intriguing aspect of all this political badinage is the readiness of Kevin, Wayne and Anthony Albanese, of all people, to trash Mark Latham.

Only a few years ago Julia thought he was a larrikin with the bold vision to lead Labor into the twenty-first century and Kevin was equally as effusive. They were unequivocal in spending millions to sell Mark to the Australian electorate as a true water-walker.

Can it possibly be that they have changed their mind? Are we now to understand he was in truth a bigger disaster than the home insulation scheme and an apology will follow in due course?

The Labor Party might well remember that it was the electorate who sussed him out first.

Both Malcolm and Tony have been branded Latham reincarnations by Labor. In addition Tony is apparently a ‘poor man’s John Howard’. This is particularly impressive. A Howard-Latham combination would make a formidable prime minister.

It is interesting to speculate how long it will be before a Coalition leader who is all spin and no wickets will be labelled by Labor as the new Kevin.

Paul Keating memorably referred to John Howard as ‘the greatest job and investment destroyer since the bubonic plague’. Sadly that sort of thing doesn’t seem to be catching.