Tiberius with a Telephone: The Life and Stories of William McMahon

by Patrick Mullins

The oddly compelling story of a man regarded as Australia's worst prime minister.

William McMahon was a significant, if widely derided and disliked, figure in Australian politics in the second half of the twentieth century. This biography tells the story of his life, his career, and his doomed attempts to recast views of his much-maligned time as Australia's prime minister.

After a long ministerial career under Menzies, McMahon became treasurer under Harold Holt, and fought a fierce, bitter war over protectionism with John McEwen. Following Holt's death in 1967, McEwen had his revenge by vetoing McMahon's candidature for the Liberal Party's leadership, and thus paved the way for John Gorton to become prime minister. But almost three years later, amid acrimony and division, McMahon would topple Gorton and fulfill his life's ambition to become Australia's prime minister.

In office, McMahon worked furiously to enact an agenda that grappled with the profound changes reshaping Australia. He withdrew combat forces from Vietnam, legislated for Commonwealth government involvement in childcare, established the National Urban and Regional Development Authority and the first Department of the Environment, began phasing out the means test on pensions, sought to control foreign investments, and accelerated the timetable for the independence of Papua New Guinea. But his failures would overshadow his successes, and by the time of the 1972 election McMahon would lead a divided, tired, and rancorous party to defeat.

A man whose life was coloured by tragedy, comedy, persistence, courage, farce, and failure, McMahon's story has never been told at length. Tiberius with a Telephone fills that gap, using deep archival research and extensive interviews with McMahon's contemporaries and colleagues. It is a tour de force—an authoritative, compelling, and colourful account of a unique politician and a vital period in Australia's history.

Genres: Biography, Politics, Australia, Nonfiction, History, Social, Political Memoir

776 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Patrick Mullins is a Canberra-based writer.

He has a PhD in writing from the University of Canberra. Tiberius with a Telephone, his first book, won the 2020 NSW Premier's Non-Fiction Award and the 2020 National Biography Award.

His second,The Trials of Portnoy, won a 2021 Canberra Critics' Circle Award and was shortlisted for the 2021 ACT Book of the Year and 2021 NSW Premier's Non-Fiction Award.

He writes for a range of magazines and periodicals.

Reviews

[Scribe Publications]

‘For God’s sake behave like a prime minister’, implored the journalist who had assisted William McMahon to attain that office. His faults were legion. Throughout his political career he boasted and intrigued, curried favour, and was habitually disloyal. He worked assiduously with little comprehension of his responsibilities, and was indecisive and prone to panic. Patrick Mullins’ engrossing, fine biography does much more than document all these liabilities: it explains how they enabled him to attain national leadership and left him unable to exercise it.
Stuart Macintyre

Mullins fills an enormous gap in our political history with extraordinary insight and clarity. He casts new light on our post-war politics. and rescues one of its most dominant figures from the throes of partisan caricature.
Lindsay Tanner, Author of Sideshow and Politics with Purpose

A welcome addition to prime ministerial biography … An engaging and informative read.
Troy Bramston, The Australian

This is the most detailed investigation and explanation of what happened … Completing a biography of this scope is an enormous undertaking, and Patrick Mullins does it with considerable skill … Mullins conveys the turmoil, the atmosphere of crisis, the bickering and the bloodletting that marked this extraordinary period of Australian political history.
David Solomon, Inside Story

Dr Mullins has become an expert on the topic.
Danielle Nohra, citynews.com.au

So why did Mullins, a young political historian, pen a 776-page biography of William McMahon? And why is this book about such an apparently unlikely and unlikeable subject already emerging as a classic of its genre, just weeks after release? To find out the reader should first go to the book. The pages are well written and authoritative. They add up to a precociously confident historian's distillation of material from a remarkable range of sources.
Australian Financial Review

[Patrick Mullins] has certainly engaged in wide-ranging and meticulous research on his subject.
Michael Sexton, The Australian

Tiberius with a Telephone is relentless in its quest to understand a man who seems out of his depth in Canberra and, at times, uncertain why he’s even there. Importantly, it shows when a government is bereft of real leadership and ideas, how quickly things can go wrong.
Jeff Maynard, Herald Sun

[Patrick Mullins] provides a detailed and, at times, sympathetic account of the difficult issues McMahon faced as he struggled to shape events. But he is brutal in his depiction of McMahon’s dishonesty, dithering, vanity, cunning and capacity for political self-harm … His biography is an engaging exposition of a neglected politician and his complex era.
Duncan Hughes, Sydney Morning Herald

This is, as others have remarked, biography at its best: diligently researched, with detail nowhere else examined, and a demonstration of fine judgement concerning the crucial interplay between personal disposition, role demands, and historical context.
James Walter, Australian Book Review

The book is a significant work – exhaustive and considered ... an engrossing read.
Nick Mattiske, Insights (Uniting Church in Australia)

A fascinating read.
John Atkin, Company Director

[An] extremely entertaining, intriguing biography.
Mark Thomas, The Canberra Times

[Andrew Norton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mainstream media outlets have given this biography of Billy McMahon wide and very positive coverage, so I will not review it in detail.

Do not be put off by McMahon being an unappealing person and a strong contender for Australia’s worst prime minister. These are interesting topics in themselves. How did someone mistrusted and disliked by so many of his colleagues become leader? Despite the weaknesses of his leadership and the “it’s time” factor after 23 years of Liberal rule, McMahon’s defeat by Gough Whitlam in the 1972 federal election was not a landslide. I learned a lot not just about McMahon, but about post-WW2 history and politics more broadly.

The book is very well written and I read it quickly, despite its length.

Although parallels with more recent events are not emphasised in the book, they will inevitably occur to readers. This McMahon biography came out at about the same time as the second volume of Kevin Rudd’s memoirs, and it’s not hard to see more parallels between the two than just their publication schedules. And McMahon, like more recent Liberal leaders, came to office because the party was not happy with its direction after the exit of a long-term leader (Menzies for McMahon, Howard for later Liberal leaders).

[Jennifer (JC-S) · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘All stories have dual landscapes .’

Sir William McMahon, GCMG, CH (23 February 1908 to 31 March 1988) was the 20th Prime Minister of Australia. He served as prime minister between 10 March 1971 and 5 December 1972. Sir William was elected to the Australian Parliament in 1949, and left Parliament in 1982. He served as a minister continuously for a period of 21 years and 6 months.

Given this period of service, Sir William was a significant figure on the Australian political landscape during the second half of the 20th century. In this biography, Patrick Mullins tells the story of Sir William’s life, his political career and his attempts to recast views of his prime ministership. Sir William is often identified as one of the main contenders for the title of ‘worst ever Australian Prime Minister’. Should he be?

‘In politics, the story and the fact are not always the same .’

This is one of the best political biographies I have read. Mr Mullins had neither access to Sir William’s papers or the support of his family when writing this book. While it is no hagiography, it provides a good record of the events of the period. I especially liked the way in which Mr Mullins moved between accounts of events while Sir William was in the Australian Parliament and events surrounding his doomed attempts to publish an autobiography.

‘When I publish my autobiography and tell of the things I had to put up with,’ he said, ‘none of you will believe it .’

This is more than a biography of Sir William McMahon: it is also a comprehensive account of politics in post-World War II Australia, of some of the challenges Australia faced as the Menzies era ended.

And the title? We can thank Gough Whitlam for that:

‘He [McMahon] was determined, like other Little Caesars, to destroy the Right Honourable member for Higgins [John Gorton]and he sat there on the Isle of Capri plotting his destruction—Tiberius with a telephone .’

I’d recommend this book to anyone seeking more information about the Australian political landscape after World War II. It’s both well-written and easy to read.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

[Benjamin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A magnificent addition to the canon of Australian political biography. Bravo.

[Rod Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best political biographies I’ve ever read. Written without access to the McMahon family or his papers this detailed but never dry work is a great general record of the significant times of change as well as a fair treatment of a persistent, professional politician who rose to a position that was more than he could handle. I recommend this book to anyone. The twin treatment of the narrative and the efforts to wrangle McMahon’s own writing into a readable piece in 1984 adds another interesting element. Five out of five stars.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly interesting account of McMahon's who is universally regarded as one of Australia's worst ever Prime Ministers, if not the worst. The author also has a very low opinion of him.

I had a hunch that it might be interesting to find out exactly why he was so bad and exactly how bad he was and it was indeed very interesting. The man was appalling in so many ways.

His political career was a good example of the Peter Principle in action - people get promoted to the level where they are incompetent and then can get no further and fail. McMahon was very good at using his skills working his way up the ladder to become Prime Minister but didn't have the skills to be a good Prime Minister.

[James Connolly]

Masterful political biography. Definitely worth reading.

[Tony Bertram · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good book about a very unlovable character. An insight into Australian politics during the fifties, sixties and seventies. Of course the Prime Ministers of the 21st Century as a group could be labelled McMahon's Revenge. .. each one has some characteristics that could help nominate them as Australia's worst Prime Minister and so slightly improve McMahon's standing.

[Andrew Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the British Conservative Benjamin Disraeli finally reached the Prime Minister’s office, he reportedly exclaimed ‘yipee I’ve climbed the greasy pole’. For Disraeli, like William McMahon, politics was a great game, to be played for its own sake as much as for any principles or social change. Yet where Disraeli is one of the most celebrate figures in his nation’s history, McMahon is one of the most reviled in his own.

McMahon is a figure who has largely been defined by others. The man swept away by Gough, the man who ended the Menzies reign. The last man before modern Australia. Even this biography is titled with a painful quip drawn up by an opponent – ‘Tiberius with a Telephone’. Yet as Mullins shows in this excellent book, there is value in trying to understand him.

McMahon was a trier. He become PM largely because he persevered. He worked as hard or harder than anyone in Parliament, and turned his largely ordinary capacities into a distinguished career. Unfortunately, he seems to have not had an ounce of self-awareness. He was vain, perpetually dishonest and unrelentingly self-aggrandizing. A Liberal he may have been, but his ideology was of self-idolization and advancement.

As such, McMahon was more flexible in accepting the need for change and initiating it than is often portrayed in the story of Whitlam ushering in modernity in 1972. McMahon did the most to get Australia out of Vietnam, to significantly reduce the White Australia immigration policy, to place urban development in Commonwealth hands, and – though Mullins gives it short shrift – to usher in the fundamental shift from a defence policy of Forward Defence to the Defence of Australia.

Biographies always have two authors. The writer and the person written about. Both shape the story told. In some ways, this book has three authors. McMahon, Mullins and a 1984 ghost writer for McMahon, David Bowman, whose thoughts about how to sum up McMahon’s character are woven in short chapters throughout the story. It’s a clever literary device, with the story jumping between the events and the old man McMahon and ghost writer looking back and trying to divine the purpose and often, the honesty of McMahon’s tale.

Unfortunately the device slowly wears thin. It becomes hard to separate Bowman’s thoughts from Mullin’s, with the former crowding the latter. And to the extent this approach helps us make sense of the man, it also make this a tome, adding chapter after chapter of reflections and minor events, adding up to 635 dense pages of text. This is very much a book to chew through.

Mullins has done us all a service in writing the first big biography of William McMahon. While we may admire the bounding giants like Menzies and Whitlam for whom a dozen books exist, we should also study the more mundane figures who also operate in these environments. In McMahon you can see reflections of several contemporary politicians. And as much as we might rightly despise and bemoan many of his traits, there should also be a sense of admiration. He persevered, he fought on, and he made it. But lacking the skills to use that rare opportunity to help make Australia something of his own, McMahon was doomed to be remade in the image of others – as a contemptible figure.

Politics can be a great game. We should not shy from admitting there is a joy in the contest. But there is also a warning. Simply making it is not enough, there needs to be a larger character and vision accompanying it - even if an artificial and created one as Disraeli undertook – if the journey to the top of the greasy pole is to deliver the rewards its pursuers believe it must. A useful lesson and a valuable book.

[Scribe Publications]

‘For God’s sake behave like a prime minister’, implored the journalist who had assisted William McMahon to attain that office. His faults were legion. Throughout his political career he boasted and intrigued, curried favour, and was habitually disloyal. He worked assiduously with little comprehension of his responsibilities, and was indecisive and prone to panic. Patrick Mullins’ engrossing, fine biography does much more than document all these liabilities: it explains how they enabled him to attain national leadership and left him unable to exercise it.
Stuart Macintyre

Mullins fills an enormous gap in our political history with extraordinary insight and clarity. He casts new light on our post-war politics. and rescues one of its most dominant figures from the throes of partisan caricature.
Lindsay Tanner, Author of Sideshow and Politics with Purpose

A welcome addition to prime ministerial biography … An engaging and informative read.
Troy Bramston, The Australian

This is the most detailed investigation and explanation of what happened … Completing a biography of this scope is an enormous undertaking, and Patrick Mullins does it with considerable skill … Mullins conveys the turmoil, the atmosphere of crisis, the bickering and the bloodletting that marked this extraordinary period of Australian political history.
David Solomon, Inside Story

Dr Mullins has become an expert on the topic.
Danielle Nohra, citynews.com.au

So why did Mullins, a young political historian, pen a 776-page biography of William McMahon? And why is this book about such an apparently unlikely and unlikeable subject already emerging as a classic of its genre, just weeks after release? To find out the reader should first go to the book. The pages are well written and authoritative. They add up to a precociously confident historian's distillation of material from a remarkable range of sources.
Australian Financial Review

[Patrick Mullins] has certainly engaged in wide-ranging and meticulous research on his subject.
Michael Sexton, The Australian

Tiberius with a Telephone is relentless in its quest to understand a man who seems out of his depth in Canberra and, at times, uncertain why he’s even there. Importantly, it shows when a government is bereft of real leadership and ideas, how quickly things can go wrong.
Jeff Maynard, Herald Sun

[Patrick Mullins] provides a detailed and, at times, sympathetic account of the difficult issues McMahon faced as he struggled to shape events. But he is brutal in his depiction of McMahon’s dishonesty, dithering, vanity, cunning and capacity for political self-harm … His biography is an engaging exposition of a neglected politician and his complex era.
Duncan Hughes, Sydney Morning Herald

This is, as others have remarked, biography at its best: diligently researched, with detail nowhere else examined, and a demonstration of fine judgement concerning the crucial interplay between personal disposition, role demands, and historical context.
James Walter, Australian Book Review

The book is a significant work – exhaustive and considered ... an engrossing read.
Nick Mattiske, Insights (Uniting Church in Australia)

A fascinating read.
John Atkin, Company Director

[An] extremely entertaining, intriguing biography.
Mark Thomas, The Canberra Times

[Mark Latchford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sir William McMahon, constantly rated the worst Prime Minister Australia has had, no doubt deserves a biography that puts the spotlight on this constant and controversial figure in Australian politics in the 2nd half of the 20th century. The question is begged why it took so long but Mullens has done an admirably job in documenting his political career.
The research behind is very solid...but the reader will be frustrated the author did not have access to the McMahon archive nor was supported by the family. Many of the characters have left the stage so pointed interviews to investigate themes and actions were nearly impossible to conduct so long after the events discussed. I would dearly have liked to know more about the person beyond the politician, as a father, as husband and as a sibling or even just a non political friend. All these views are missing.
The length at 620 plus pages makes a long winded read for a PM in office less than two years. A shorter crisper biography could have worked just as well. That said, the writing is net and light so you are encouraged to plough on, through incidents that, in hindsight, seem very unimportant.
I have a particular frustration with every second chapter being a segue into the weekly machinations back in the 1980s about the progress of McMahon's ghosted autobiography. It adds volume but seems uninteresting and rather could have been a appendix at best, at the end. Perhaps a little self indulgent by the author as a tribute to another author, in this case ghost-writer Bowman

[Christopher Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent biography. Doesn't fall into the trap, common in other political biographies, of spending too long on the time at the top and too little elsewhere; as a result, you understand why he was able to become PM despite being widely disliked/distrusted, and why he was not a success as PM.

It's a well-rounded portrait, showing all of his flaws (and there are a lot of them) but also some surprising qualities. His views on social issues took me aback at times.

Another strength of the book is the story it tells of Australian politics more broadly in the mid-20th century. But that also leads to one of its weaknesses - McMahon sometimes disappears from the stage for too long, and this happens without it enabling deeper or more thorough sketches of the other characters of the time.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

William McMahon is an overlooked and perhaps even underrated figure in Australian political history. Patrick Mullins fills a gap in a compelling way. The format of switching between the ill-fated attempts during 1984 (the year, not the Orwell novel) to write McMahon's biography and the rest of McMahon's life and career give the book a good flow. As might be expected, the period of 1966-1972 (during which the dominance of the Liberal Party unravelled) is the most dramatic, but the accounts of McMahon's early life are also fascinating, and may provide clues as to many of McMahon's actions as a politician.

[Danielle Laman · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first saw this book at Dymocks, I was not expecting much, but the title and back cover caught my eye. After bushfires, pneumonia and the start of Covid-19 did I finish and was not dissapointed. William Mcmahon to me is a background character of many big characters (Menzies, Holt, Gorton, McEwen and Whitlam to say the least) that came to the forefront of Australian History. A deeply interesting story of 50s and 60s Aussie politics and quite a unique character study of Australia's "Worst Prime Minister"still makes one hell of a story. Honestly plan to read it again soon.

[Benjamin Farr · Rating 3 out of 5]

3½ stars

This 700+ page tome is fascinating reading however not without obvious and overt bias against McMahon which by the end of the book became grating in the author's persistent belittling of the former PM.

Was McMahon really all that bad compared to others (such as the ineffectual leadership of Albanese), or those who came after McMahon who were disposed by their party and then the electorate (Rudd-Gillard-Rudd-Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison). Let's not also forget that Whitlam, who despite being instrumental in changing Australia, was literally sacked from office).

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.
As a previous reviewer said this is an amazingly readable book for an account of a politician . This author has made of such unpromising material a dramatic story written with clarity and succinctness. And carried the interest forward over 600 plus pages! This is quite an achievement, and in one apparently so young! I haven’t been so impressed for quite a while. Congratulations. Any potential readers shouldn’t have any doubts about the readability of this book.

[Rdurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read. Bizarrely by the end I had a higher opinion of McMahon than I did previously. He initiated many policies, e.g., childcare, education, withdrawal from Vietnam, urban investment, which Whitlam built on and got credit for.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb biography of Australian Prime Minister William McMahon. To make this a riveting read is some achievement, as McMahon is considered as one of our worst Prime Ministers. But first and foremost this is a major work of history on Australian political history from 1949 - 1972.

[Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has increased my regard for McMahon quite considerably. He clearly had his faults but you have to admire his hard work and determination. And he clearly achieved a lot for Australia both as a very long term minister and as prime minister.