Portrait of a wily politician

Written by his second wife, and former mistress, author Blanche D’Alpuget, it comes as no surprise that Hawke: The Prime Minister, in parts can come across as syrupy.

On the other hand, there is nothing syrupy about Paul Keating’s response to the book, which was published in a letter in The Australian, just after the book was launched.

“…yours and Blanche’s rewriting of history is not only unreasonable and unfair, more than that, it is grasping,” says Keating.

“It is as if, Narcissus-like, you cannot find enough praise to heap upon yourself.”

Keating has not written a book about his years as treasurer or prime minister, but Ms D’Alpuget’s book – her second one about Bob Hawke – has so annoyed Keating that in his letter he says:

“If I get around to writing a book, and I might, I will be telling the truth; the whole truth,” he says.

“And that truth will record the great structural changes that occurred during our years and my own as prime minister.”

Clearly, the problem for Keating with Ms D’Alpuget’s book is that he is robbed of many of his achievements.

Ms D’Alpuget’s one-dimensional arm-chair psychological analysis of all the major political players, including Keating, is bland and lacks depth.

She begins her book, published by Melbourne University Publishing, as Bob Hawke wrestles the Labor leadership from Bill Hayden, and a few weeks later wins the 1983 federal election. The book peaks with Keating’s leadership challenge and his victory in the 1993 election.

“Keating was a classic intuitive, able in a few minutes of observation or conversation to absorb as much as a non-intuitive collects in an hour,” writes D’Alpuget.

“It was strength but it had a considerable drawback: it was imprecise and it deprived Keating of a wider range of views.”

And this is Ms D’Alpuget being balanced:

“Keating’s other weakness was that he could not work for long periods without physical depletion and needed to escape from the tension of high office by immersing himself in hobbies and music,” writes D’Alpuget.

I don’t know why the word ‘weakness’ is used here or what it is supposed to add.

On the upside, Hawke was acknowledged as a great leader, and this could have been effectively portrayed without the obvious anti-Keating stance.

Ms D’Alpuget takes us through the struggles inside Hawke’s government, with the opposition and with an electorate that yearned for reform but hated its pain. Hawke maintained his vision for the country. With four consecutive terms in office he changed Australia irrevocably. Ms D’Alpuget has documented this achievement in two books; let’s hope there isn’t a third.

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