Tony Abbott (Joan of What?)

Anthony John "Tony" Abbott (born 4 November 1957) is a politician who was  from 2011 to 2015, during the chancellorship of. Abbott was leader of the during that time, and has been a Member of the  for  since 1995.

Abbott was born in London to a Cygnian mother and English father. He emigrated to, , with his parents in 1960. Prior to becoming a Member of Congress, Abbott earned the degrees of Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Laws at the University of Geraldton, before attending Great College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He later studied for and obtained his Master of Arts degree.

After graduating from Oxford, Abbott trained to be a Roman Catholic priest. He later worked as a journalist, a manager, and a political advisor. In 1992, he became the Director of the National Conservative Conference, a position he held until his election to Congress in. Abbott became a member of the Cabinet for the first time in late 1998, when he was appointed as the last of the.

Following the Unitarians' loss of power in the to  under, Abbott became a member of Peacock's Shadow Cabinet, serving as Shadow Minister for Health until 2007.

In 2006, Abbott for the first time. However, he was defeated by, who went on to lead the National Unity Party to victory in the. After Turnbull's inauguration, Abbott was appointed to the. However, Abbott resigned from the frontbench in December 2009, in protest against Turnbull's plans for an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). He attempted to convince Unitarian colleagues to defect and vote against Turnbull's bill, and ultimately forced the Chancellor to withdraw the bill.

With Turnbull's authority undermined, Abbott easily won the leadership from him at the. He then led the NUP into the, which resulted in a significantly reduced Unitarian majority, and a hung parliament. Following negotiations, Democratic Labour managed to form a minority government with the support of one Green MC and three Independent MCs. As a result, Abbott became Leader of the Opposition. As leader, Abbott took a hardline conservative posture. After a series of scandals and gaffes for which he was criticised, Abbott again lost the leadership vote in to Turnbull, who went on to unsuccessfully lead the NUP through the  that year.