Paul Reynolds

Lock Stock and Barrel: Mike Ahern a Political Biography Paul Reynolds

Mike Ahern was a state premier with a difference. Eclipsed by the Machiavellian career of his disgraced predecessor Joh Bjelke-Petersen, he was also one of Queensland's most underrated premiers. He was relatively young and - for a National Party Leader - socially and politically progressive. The significance of his government was therefore much greater than his actual length of office as premier: from December 1987 to September 1989. Mike Ahern's entire parliamentary career was underscored by constant battles with hostile forces within the National Party. Although he eventually forced himself into Cabinet and then the premiership, his party finally repudiated him. Respected political commentator Paul Reynolds thoroughly evaluates Mike Ahern's political and leadership style, covering his long career in politics from the late 1960s to 1990. Not an authorised biography, this first account of Mike Ahern's political life was nevertheless written with the cooperation of this one time premier and statesman.