On the face of it, this story looks like just one more example of Howard's pitiful descent into farce:

FORMER prime minister John Howard attempted a comeback to the Liberal Party within weeks of his defeat in November's election, senior Liberals have revealed.
Several party sources have confirmed Mr Howard put himself forward as the next Liberal Party president to replace outgoing Chris McDiven.

"Howard contacted people to make it known he wanted the presidency," one source said.

But Mr Howard's candidacy was immediately scoffed at by senior Liberals. They were amazed he seemed to want a role so soon after the Liberals' worst defeat, senior sources said.

"They told him: don't be ridiculous," a source said.

"Howard wanted the presidency so that he could control the review process the party was conducting into why the Howard government lost and what needed to be done," one source said.

"He wanted to control the way the history of the Howard Government was written."

There is another explanation, of course: perhaps Howard is so fearful of what lies ahead for him that he is desperate to cling to power by any means. Perhaps it's not so much a case of writing the history books as staying out of jail?