Two prominent Liberal frontbenchers will lock horns in a preselection contest that insiders warn could destabilise the party’s run into the next election.

In a move that will provoke fresh debate around female representation in the Coalition, Jane Hume, the opposition finance spokeswoman, has decided to run for the top position on the Victorian Senate ticket occupied by home affairs spokesman James Paterson.

Jane Hume has been a senator since 2016. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

A peace deal engineered by then prime minister and treasurer Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg before the 2019 election shielded Hume, one of the opposition’s top female MPs, from a challenge by conservative forces, cementing her No.2 position.

But Hume’s intention to vie for the top spot – confirmed by two party sources who could not speak publicly about preselections due to party rules – pits her moderate wing against the Victorian Right faction.