Joh for Pm ― The Inside Story of an Extraordinary Political Drama

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 raged between the Sinclair and Joh forces during one of the most bizarre and divisive periods in Australian politics. InJoh 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.

Paul Davey is a former journalist and was a senior staffer for the National Party at federal and state levels for many years, including federal director during the tumultuous period of the Joh for PM campaign. He is the author of four books on National Party history.