There is one non-political, inescapable fact about the removal of Tony Abbott as prime minister.

It is the end of yet another fantastically named dynamic duo in Australian politics.

What were the chances that a leader and deputy leader would be Abbott and Bishop?

Just imagine how successful former Victorian MP Neil Pope would’ve been if he’d gone into federal politics.

It wouldn’t matter that they weren’t all in the same party.

They’d be attracted by their names alone.

Australian politics is peppered with these name links.

For example, what were the chances that Peter Costello would be a prominent MP at the same time as Tony Abbott?

And how many times did they have to endure the question: “Who’s on first?”

It is Bushwhacked’s belief that Australian politics got more coverage in the United States in that unique period than at any other time.

Just because US newsreaders were tickled that Abbott and Costello were helping run a country.

There’s more.

What were the odds that two particular National Party MPs would both be elected in 1984 and both went on to very senior roles: Charles Blunt and John Sharp.

Again: how often did they have to endure blunt remarks and sharp comments?

It happens at state level as well.

In Tasmania the 1986 state election was contested by Liberals’ Robin Gray, Labor’s Doug Lowe and the Greens’ Bob Brown.

One newspaper headline from the time reported: “Lowe is greener than Gray but not as green as Brown.”

And sometimes, potentially great pairings are disrupted only by the years.

What, for example, would you have given to see the MP for Newcastle in 1890-91, James Curley, stand in the Federal parliament of today … alongside Bill Shorten?

We often wondered what factors brought Nova Peris, a former hockey Olympian into a Parliament with Joe Hockey.

It is worth noting that right now Bird sits in the federal parliament with Swan, Broad sits with Broadbent, Lambie and Laming, Landry and Laundy and Lundy, Robb and Roy.

Ley could work with Lines. There’s a Butler, a Porter and a Fisher. THREE Bishops.

In the Senate, there’s a Wright and a Wong. Ahh, they’re all over the place.

We will refrain from mentioning that Polley and Pratt sit side by side on the list of senators. No, sorry, we will mention that. But just once.

I reckon that people are unknowingly drawn to these oddities, just as people called Lawless are curiously over represented in the world of lawyers and police.

There is also the associated phenomenon of individual MPs with sensational names, such as the new Alabama State Treasurer, Young Boozer, who assured his voters that he was neither and still won.

Or the chap who ran for police chief in Chandler, Arizona: Frank Schmuck. His winning slogan was: Yep, that’s right. There was one candidate for town sheriff: Jim Shotwell.

And who could forget the British Tory MP who got drunk and missed an important vote to pass the British budget: Mark Reckless?