Joh for PM: The inside story of an extraordinary political drama

by Paul Davey

Unfolding like a political thriller, Joh for PM reveals for the first time the details of the campaign that rocked Australian politics.

In 1987 the Queensland Premier, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, launched an audacious bid to break the federal Opposition Coalition, replace Ian Sinclair as National Party leader, and become Prime Minister himself. Trench warfare waged between the Sinclair and Joh forces during one of the most bizarre and divisive periods in Australian politics. In Joh for PM National Party insider Paul Davey reveals what went on behind closed doors in top-level internal meetings and the strategies aimed at thwarting the Joh campaign and reuniting the party at state and federal levels.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Biography

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2015

Reviews

[Matt John]

An insight into the "Joh for PM" campaign and the ultimate downfall of Sir Joh as the Premier of Queensland and leader of the Queensland Country Party - and more general National Party workings at the time. Although written by National Party insider, Paul Davey the book reads as a third-eye view.
Would be of interest to anyone with a fascination of Australian politics, although for a fuller understanding would need to be read alongside other titles documenting the mid to late eighties.
An easy read, promising further insights into those queer folk "north of the border".

[Jillian B]

Recent political events got me interested in the last time the National party and Liberals parted ways and I found this book to help me understand what happened the last time the Coalition split. Paul Davey presents an (at times somewhat overwhelming) amount of names, dates, letters and minutes from meetings. Despite the rather dry nature of the material I found this book did an excellent job of explaining the inner workings of the Nationals at this time.

Despite the title, Joh is a peripheral figure, who I would have appreciated learning more about. His campaign appears to have been incredibly poorly handled. There appears to have been no actual plans for how he would move from state to federal government. He seems to have thought he would ride a tidal wave of electoral popularity into government. He was outwitted right from the start by the sitting Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, who calls an election while Joh is out of the country. Joh does not even have a seat from which to run for parliament (let alone become PM) and proceeds to clumsily try to get some of the party faithful to relinquish one of their seats for him. No one would. It seemed clear to almost everyone but the Joh diehards that the push was doomed to fail. Then, naturally, they all fall out with each other and there are recriminations all round.

This part was fascinating reading, particularly the last days of Joh as premier of QLD where he is isolated and refusing to abide by his own governments directives.

I would have appreciated a concluding chapter to the book that took a more comprehensive summation of the whole episode, rather than just the day to day happenings as presented. But, overall, I enjoyed having a spotlight shone in this odd moment in our political history.

[David Cox]

This is a rather dull book. It focuses quite heavily on National party conferences and committees, with little commentary about the campaign outside of the limited framework of these internal party discussions. Joh becomes a secondary character in a book about his own downfall, and not a very well fleshed out one. The structure and pacing is very sequential and has straightforward technical detail just delivered to the reader. I've read my fair share of political biographies and while making a historical book well paced and intriguing isn't the easiest task, this one felt very flat. Joh's downfall is followed by a chapter about the recommendation and implementation of a report about altering the National party constitution to prevent a similar disruption happening in the party's future.

This book is for people who care about the behind the scenes goings-on of conferences and committees.

[Brendan]

Joh for PM is a remarkable insider's account of the tumult caused by Joh Bjelke Peterson's attempt to become Prime Minister. It provides an important account of an event whose significance is slowly being forgotten. The events of the 1987 election ensured that Hawke-Keating years would continue for almost another decade whilst Howard underwent a transformative experience whilst relegated to the backbench in the aftermath of the election loss, allowing him to become the leader who convincely won the 1996 election
A must read for anyone interested in the history of the National Party, the Coalition or the history behind Australian politics in general.

[Brendan Waite]

An interesting look at the Queensland Nats at a time when the parliamentary party was divorced from the organisational wing and from the branches. Something that the Newman years indicate has yet to be rectified.

[Murray]

Okay, but dealt largely with internal National Party politics, which was only so interesting.