In 2003, after only two years in the federal Parliament, King was challenged for his Liberal endorsement in Wentworth by Malcolm Turnbull, then a wealthy merchant banker, Federal Treasurer of the Liberal Party and former head of the Australian Republican Movement. During the bitter pre-selection campaign, King accused Turnbull of branch stacking, by having local members transferring their membership to a branch that would decide the selection, what King referred to as "branch stripping". Following his preselection loss, King stood for the seat at the 2004 election as an independent candidate. As a result, the traditionally Liberal electorate was turned into an electoral wildcard, with the contest becoming a three-person race between Turnbull, King and Labor candidate David Patch. During the campaign, Turnbull spent over A$600,000 on the campaign. While the Liberal primary vote fell 10.3 percent to 41.8 percent, King received 18 percent of the primary vote with a 57/43 Liberal/Labor preference split which brought Turnbull over the line, but on a reduced 55.5 percent two-party vote after a 2.4 percent swing it made Wentworth a marginal seat on paper for the first time since the 1993 election. For standing against a preselected Liberal party member, King was banned from the Liberal Party for ten years. His wife Fiona, daughter of former National Party leader Ian Sinclair, was banned for five years.
Return to Politics
In 2015 King rejoined the Liberal Party and in July 2017 an article appeared in the Australian Financial Review reporting he was supporting reform of the Liberal Party preselection processes. King refused to comment when asked whether he would like to re-enter Federal Parliament. In August 2017 King and Lawyer Matthew Bransgrove, formed an organisation called and began a series of lectures to Liberal Party branches in the Wentworth Electorate on the dangers posed to Australia's National Security by North Korea.
Legal career
King was a barrister prior to entering politics and still practises. He was a Judicial Member of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal of NSW 1995–2001. He is the author of Limitation of Liability in Australian Maritime Law, and a critique of climate change policy called The Challenge of the Commons. King appeared in cases for farmers against banks during the drought between 2001 and 2009 helping to keep many farmers on their farms; and in commercial and constitutional cases including the landmark cases of Spencer v Commonwealth and Gaynor v Chief of Defence Force.
