To the Bitter End: The Dramatic Story of the Fall of John Howard and the Rise of Kevin Rudd

by Peter Hartcher

2007 was a year to remember in Australian politics. It saw the dramatic fall of John Howard and the unexpected rise of Kevin Rudd. It saw the Liberal Party buckle under the inertia of incumbency and the Labor Party find new discipline and energy. It also saw the union movement at the center of one of the most effective and powerful political campaign the country has ever seen. With unprecedented access to the key players and countless hours of confidential interviews, Peter Hartcher reveals how Kevin Rudd secretly forged his alliance with Julia Gillard to topple Kim Beazley. He exposes the way Labor's factions intimidated Rudd. He lays bare the raging, unending struggle between John Howard and Peter Costello for control of the national budget. And he explains why Peter Costello believes Howard's defeat was the greatest humiliation of any prime minister in Australia's history. To the Bitter End is a penetrating, riveting, and above all revealing exploration of a year when the political stakes had never been higher.

Genres: Nonfiction

292 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Peter Hartcher is the political and international editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. His books include Bubble Man, The Sweet Spot and To the Bitter End. His first Quarterly Essay, Bipolar Nation, was published in 2007.

Reviews

[Eamonn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read on the tail end of the Howard years and 2007 election, which took place a few months before I arrived in Australia. Striking parallels between Howard-Costello and the Blair-Brown dynamic in the UK. Likewise, Rudd and Labour’s framing of themselves as the ‘economic conservatives’ was a hallmark of Blair’s New Labour.

Ultimately Rudd or the ALP wouldn’t enjoy the longevity of Blair-Brown, Howard or Hawke-Keating. At the time I thought of it as a failure and squandering by the ALP- and there were big mistakes made for sure. However, given the post 2010 changes in 24-7 media I’d wager that in 30 years’ time the likes of Howard-Hawke-Blair-Thatcher will look like unicorns, with short term leaders the norm.