A report has claimed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was privately campaigning against Bronwyn Bishop gaining preselection for the seat of Mackellar.

Ms Bishop – who was forced to resign as speaker last year after an exorbitant travel expenses scandal – is re-contesting her electoral seat after some time out of the spotlight.

In response to the news that Ms Bishop would be running again, veteran businessman Dick Smith announced he would throw his hat in the ring as an independent, solely to beat her.

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And it seemed the prime minister was concerned that he might.

According to a report in The Australian newspaper, Mr Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison hatched a private plan to “foil” Ms Bishop’s run for preselection – instead privately backing the left-leaning Jason Falinski.

This is despite Mr Turnbull publicly backing Ms Bishop.

The newspaper reported Ms Bishop had the required support in local branches, but would need the backing of the moderate party members as well.

Pre-selection votes are made up of half local branch members, plus members of the state executive and a random selection of state council members.

In 2015, Ms Bishop was accused of misusing tax payer funds after charting a $5000 helicopter to a Liberal party fundraiser in Geelong.

After weeks of public pressure, Ms Bishop apologised over the scandal, saying she had done nothing wrong but would pay back the funds as it didn’t “look right”.