A spill of the leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia took place on 29 November 2007, following the defeat of the Howard government at the federal election five days earlier. The resulting ballot was an open race as outgoing Prime Minister John Howard had lost his own seat at the election, and his preferred successor Peter Costello refused to stand.

Brendan John Nelson is an Australian business leader and former politician. He served as the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008, going on to serve as Australia's senior diplomat to the European Union and NATO. He now has a global leadership role with Boeing, an aerospace company.