The Accidental Prime Minister

by Annika Smethurst

'Critics have repeatedly underestimated Morrison's political skill and overplayed the impact of his missteps. But Morrison seems to understand, more than most, what gets through to mainstream Australians and what they ignore.'

Nine months after the spill that catapulted Scott Morrison to the top job, he won the 2019 election, surprising politicians and pundits throughout the nation. Yet, little was really known about the former marketing man whose hard-nosed political instincts and 'daggy dad' persona took him all the way to Kirribilli House.

A devout Christian family man on one hand, ambitious and poll-obsessed on the other, the seemingly blunder-prone Morrison has surpassed expectations of his tenure and voter popularity more than once, making him one of Australia's most underestimated modern political figures.

In this first biography of the thirtieth prime minister of Australia, multi-award-winning political journalist Annika Smethurst examines the fundamental question about is his success a case of being in the right place at the right time, or is he one of the most strategic and shrewd political operators to ever hold the office?

'A penetrating study of relentless ambition and making "ordinary" the new political norm - none of it edifying, all of it essential reading' Laura Tingle

Genres: Politics, Biography, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

Published May 17, 2022

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is ironic, Scott Morrison’s rise in 11 years in Parliament to the prime ministership was no accident. It was carefully plotted and manipulated from the very beginning, which was very early in his career. He was brought up in Bronte and attended a highly selective Sydney Boys’ High where he excelled in sport rather than academe. Like stepping stones in a pond, every post was used to get him nearer where he wanted. After an ordinary degree in Geography at UNSW: the Property Council, tourism here and in New Zealand, State director of the NSW Liberal party, Director of the new Tourism Australia, to the seat of Cook and elected to Parliament in 2008. In almost everyone of these appointments, he used people ruthlessly.

He belongs to no faction which means Smethurst says along with others he is “pragmatic” and not ideological – except for his Pentecostalism which has ore effect on his policies than he and others want to admit. Another word is opportunistic. Policies are formed not from principle but from polling: discussing what will run with NewsCorp editors even before his own Cabinet, and then the polling he is interested in is, like Trump, in his target audience: middle Australia and tradies, never academics. A senior Liberal called him “The most ruthless person I have ever met.” For instance, in the Abbott leadership struggle in 2015, he was angling for the job itself, he hated Abbott but voted for him, while instructing his co-religionists who form a powerful group to vote for Turnbull. He used the same trick in 2018: “Here is my leader” he said to Turnbull, then angled the vote again against Turnbull by getting his acolytes to vote for the Dutton, so that Turnbull was belittled by a narrow victory, forcing him to resign, then Morrison’s acolytes now voting against Dutton. Thus was Morrison made PM, with very clean hands. “Accidental” indeed.

Morrison’s cock-up of the vaccine rollout is mentioned and it with it his predilection to take credit when things go well, and to blame others when they do not. While Smethurst is very clear about these problems, particularly in the chapter on his relationship with women, which is rarely good, she nevertheless pulls her punches. Little mention of Morrison’s predilection for lying, so clear in almost everything he does especially when he needs to shift blame onto others. No mention of the RoboDebt scandal, which was Morrison’s nasty invention, billing the poor with debts they hadn’t incurred. No mention of his treatment of the arts and universities, all of whom Morrison despises. The book is well written, critical to an extent, but overall she thinks he learns from his mistakes and basically I feel she thinks he is a good prime minister. I beg to differ.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great analysis of the rise and rise of Scott Morrison. A clever politician who engineered and schemed to be "accidentally" in the right place at the right time to become Prime Minister. Written towards the end of the Morrison Prime Ministership in 2022.

[Loki · Rating 2 out of 5]

By some distance, this is the most superficial and least important of the books to have been written about Scott Morrison to date. There is little attempt to gets to grip with what makes Morrison tick, and a willingness not to probe far beyond the surface of things that is disappointing in a work of political journalism. It also completely omits certain notable incidents in Morrison's career, chief among them the Robodebt scandal. I gave up about two thirds of the way through when it became clear that this was an exercise in endless table setting that would never actually serve a meal.

[Bella P · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly researched and insightful biography of Mr Morrison's political career.

[Graeme · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally a good read but would have preferred a more chronological account. 2 factual errors : Morrison had never described Houston as a mentor. The idea that Houston was a mentor to Morrison actually comes from an article by Nick Bryant in a 2012 edition of The Monthly, which refers back to Morrison’s maiden speech and posits: “The founder of Hillsong, Harley Davidson-riding pastor Brian Houston, is one of Morrison’s mentors.” Frank Houston was not the father of Pentecostalism in Sydney, it dates back long before he came to Australia.

[Wisdom Wasp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might well be the definitive Scott Morrison biography, even though his story is not yet finished.

This book was one I had been interested to read since I first saw it on the shelf, even given that Scott Morrison has been the most secure Prime Minister since Howard, I still feel there was a lot about him I didn’t know. This is deliberate, Morrison crafted the “Everyman” persona and Identified that most people a)don’t care about politics and b)don’t want to hear about politics.

It was a quick paced read, never dwelling too long on any one event but still covering enough so you knew not only what happened, but where the landmark events in Morrisons life landed him. Also *minor spoiler alert, you begin to realise that Scott Morrison as the “Accidental Prime Minister” is anything but.

It is striking that a lot of circumstances and even bumps in the road in the end played to Morrisons advantage, whether it was good luck, Gods providence or calculated the book doesn’t answer, nor does it need to. One thing that comes out about Scott Morrison is that he loves the political game, loves polling )and going with the majority) and loves being underestimated.

Shorten learned that lesson too late. As a former Labor voter and volunteer I have watched Labor move its primary focus away from Workers and families to cheap left-wing talking points to get a run in a mostly sympathetic media. Shorten fell for this hook, line and sinker when he went after Folau and sloppily all Christians, which Morrison expertly used to his advantage to in my opinion, along with scare about taxes and doubts on Shorten to win the election. Albanese seems to have learnt this lesson and might have realised that people of all faiths care about their expression of faith most so at the very least is keeping quiet on it.

That goes to the one thing that impressed me most about the book, is the unbiased view of Morrison throughout. Rather than lead us to conclusions, the book just lays out the story and allows us to form our own view. The author just seems to approach Morrison without any biases at all, although I’m sure she has her views, they don’t come out in the book. Although this should be expected, it’s rarer these days to see. Scott Morrisons honest blunders are written as that, rather than the words of an evil psychopath.

A recommended read for those who want to know about the person of Scott Morrison, it might not change your view on him. I already knew he was ambitious, a man of admirable and courageous faith and who had mighty political intelligence. None of those views changed for me

[Tom J · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bit of a weird one. smethurst offers no real analysis throughout (until the end) and the book largely has no central argument, except for a fairly clear liberal bias that she doesn't seem particularly interested in examining. it is assumed the reader also thinks that morrison didn't really mean many of the odd or unpleasant things he said or did, and that to believe so would be kind of silly.

this is more darkly funny than aggravating though, because the author chose to release the book before morrison's government concluded, leaving her to draw an absolutely incredible conclusion: morrison is actually quite good at what he does sometimes, and he shouldn't be underestimated. i would contend that morrison's entire career happened because he was overestimated and that as soon as he had his hand on the rudder anywhere in his career, everything burned down.

this book is quite interesting in a sort of horror movie way, where the additional context we have from living past the publishing of this book makes things seem deeply alarming, but everyone in the book doesn't have that information yet. oh, he showed disdain for proper public disclosure in most of his roles? he has a string of women who despise him? he's purposefully uninformed about mistakes in his government? surely these character traits will not have a terrible denouement less than a year after this comes out!

it's not a bad book overall, it's just... why did you release it when you did? the story is so clearly not done, why are we ending here? i guess if he had gone on to more terms it would have felt appropriate, like releasing a book on howard in 1998. instead it's like someone writing "surely abbott's budget will be widely beloved" in 2013

[jb-rand · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a really well researched book and it's structure tells the chronological story of Morrison's career nicely. The themes are well elucidated upon (if annoyingly, repetitive) and it's never not entertaining. The events are interesting and we don't really leave feeling like parts of the story are missing. It falls short in the edit, some passages re-appearing in full and some simple errors that I think are just normal. It also falls short, more direly, in its lack of editorialising. Smethurst commits to a level of objectivity that makes the writing predictable and lacking bite. The central thesis of the book is that Morrison is a cunning politician and appearing "accidental" was by design. This is a point that's hammered home but its not expanded upon or explored. It ends up feeling like an approving nod to a cynical mode of exploitation in marketing and politics.

[Imogen Inglis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book merely provides a surface level recount of Scott Morrison’s life. It skips Robodebt, largely credits him with the Covid-19 response, and fails to give a fulsome summary of the events that caused the downfall of Turnbull. While I appreciate this may be a helpful book in future to understand some of the key event that happened during the time Scott Morrison was Prime Minister, the fact it was published half way through his tenure means it’s not fully finished. I suggest it was prematurely written and published, and would have benefited from deeper engagement with the events of the past few years.

[John Beattie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book an excellent read. The author Annika Smethurst has presented a very balanced and well written biography of Scott Morrison, his achievements and the events leading up to his election as Prime Minister of Australia.
The author has presented an entertaining overview of Scott and his successes, dissapointments and personality.
A difficult man at times disliked by many but well respected for his dedication and capacity to do the difficult jobs demanded.
If you want an insightful biography that is an easy and informative read then I suggest this would be a good choice.

[Barbara Thomson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this insightful account of our current Prime Minister. Really interesting to read this straight after Malcolm Turnbull’s biography.

[Travis Toppin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, even if you’re not a fan of Morrison. I found it fascinating.

[Gab Stripp · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narrative helps fill some of the gaps of the Current PM- gaps that the reader thinks they know about but discover a whole lot through the pages of this book

[Claudia]

It didn't increase my scant like of ScoMo, but that's not the point of the book. It was good to get a balanced view of his career.