Spying claims in Palmer tirade

Not content with just suing Rupert Murdoch, Clive Palmer has made the bizarre claim that the media mogul's ex-wife Wendi Deng is a Chinese spy.

While discussing his plan to sue Murdoch over an article in the Australian newspaper yesterday, Palmer launched into an outlandish tirade against Deng.

"You know Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendi Deng is a Chinese spy," Palmer told the Nine Network. "She's been spying on Rupert for years, giving money back to Chinese intelligence ... that's why Rupert Murdoch got rid of her."

The comments prompted Nine host Karl Stefanovic to ask if Palmer had "lost the plot".

The leader of the Palmer United Party was fuming over a comment piece in the Australian which questions the Gold Coast property tycoon's background.

"Contrary to the flim-flam and spin, Clive Frederick Palmer is not a professor, not an adviser to the G20, not a mining magnate, not a legal guru and not an advocate for freedom of speech. He's probably not a billionaire," journalist Hedley Thomas wrote. "The problem is that so much of Mr Palmer's spiel seems to be make-believe."

Palmer accused Murdoch of telling his reporters what to write and said he needed to be brought to account.

"Murdoch will be sued by me today and will be brought to Australia to answer these questions in the Supreme Court," he told the Seven Network.

Latest polls show the Palmer United Party would win the sixth Queensland Senate seat.

- AAP