in 1998, Prime Minister John Howard made Abbott the Minister for Employment Services and in 2001 was promoted to Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business. In 2003 Abbott was the Minister for Health and Ageing, and Leader of the House of Representatives in the Federal Parliament. After the defeat of the Howard Government in 2007 he was Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. He resigned on the 26 November 2009 in protest against Liberal Party policy on climate change. He then defeated the leader Malcolm Turnbull by only one vote in a Liberal Party leadership election on 1 December, 2009.