Liberal frontbencher George Brandis has launched a stinging broadside at John Howard, accusing him of double-crossing former treasurer Peter Costello.
Mr Costello finally put an end to on-going speculation about his future on Monday, revealing he would retire at the next federal election.
Apart from his time in charge of the nation's purse strings, Mr Costello will be remembered for wanting the top job in politics but never quite making the pinnacle.
Mr Costello, who served as Liberal deputy to the former prime minister, never challenged Mr Howard for his job.
A secret deal to hand over the leadership, which eventually became public, never came to fruition.
After the coalition's 2007 election defeat - where Mr Howard lost his seat - Mr Costello decided to move to the backbench rather than take on the Liberal leadership.
Writing for the ABC online, Senator Brandis said Mr Costello would be the best prime minister the Liberal Party never had.
"Of course, he should have been prime minister long before 2007," he said.
"In the middle of the second term of his government, John Howard reneged on the deal he had made with Mr Costello in late 1994, to give him a smooth path to the leadership of the Liberal Party.
"Any objective examination of the record - the evidence of the McLachlan note, the logic of events, the motives of the players, Mr Howard's strangulated rationalisations, point to only one conclusion.
"Let us be blunt: Peter Costello was double-crossed."
While some have accused Mr Costello of being a coward for not challenging for the leadership, Senator Brandis said it was because the Victorian MP didn't want to wreck the Liberal Party.
"His instinct for loyalty to his party's broader interests was always a stronger impulse than single-minded ruthless ambition," he said.
"Mr Howard saw that and he took full advantage of it. Peter's innate decency was never going to be a match for Mr Howard's guile."
Senator Brandis, who has been a vocal critic of Mr Howard in the past, accused him of hanging on to the prime ministership because of a desire to retain the pomp and ceremony of office.
"The Costellos never had the all-consuming need to live in The Lodge with which the Howards were so obviously consumed," he said.
Meanwhile, Treasurer Wayne Swan has grudgingly paid tribute to his predecessor, Peter Costello, who announced his retirement from federal politics on Monday.
Mr Swan acknowledged the sacrifices Mr Costello had made in serving Australia as treasurer for more than 11 years.
He paid tribute to Mr Costello but said he didn't necessarily agree with everything he'd done as treasurer.
"We certainly don't agree with everything that Peter Costello did while he was treasurer but he has made a very important contribution to public life in Australia," Mr Swan told ABC TV.
Former Howard government ministers have repeatedly accused Labor of failing to give the coalition credit for putting Australia on a sound economic footing, which has helped the nation withstand the worst of the global recession.
"I think reforms from government over the years, the governments that preceded Peter Costello, and Peter Costello and his government in the early years did in put place some very important reforms," Mr Swan said.
"But ... we are very critical of Peter Costello and John Howard's for the failure to invest in the future.
"Certainly I do acknowledge that the Keating government and the Howard-Costello government in its early years all made important contributions to putting Australia in the position that we're in today."
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