Peter Costello has long had an uneasy relationship with journalistic truth-telling.
In 2005 he dined with three journalists from the Canberra press gallery, during which he told them the Coalition government led by John Howard, and of which he was treasurer, could not win the election due in 2007 with Howard as leader.
Next morning, a member of his staff induced the three journalists to treat the conversation as off the record – that is, in confidence.
