There was a change of leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia on 5 September 1985 with John Howard replacing Andrew Peacock.
A spill of the deputy leadership of the party took place on that day, Peacock attempting to replace John Howard with his preferred candidate John Moore. The spill was won by Howard over Moore by 38 votes to 31 with 7 members abstaining.
Upon rejection of his candidate for the deputy leadership, Andrew Peacock resigned and was replaced by John Howard as leader defeating Jim Carlton 57 votes to 6. The Deputy leadership was then filled by Neil Brown defeating 11 others (including Moore) for the position.
There had been feelings within the Liberal Party that the parties parliamentary wing had been ignoring the organisational wing. The leader of the organisational wing, John Valder, asserted that this could have contributed to the recent electoral losses. These feelings were linked to the spill, although Valder kept his distance from assertions that he was directly involved in instigating the spill.
The following tables gives the ballot results:
Other candidates in order of elimination:
Howard would remain party leader until 1989, surviving a spill in 1987 triggered by the 1987 election loss. Peacock would stand both times.