Word: ministership
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There was an abundance of all three in the closely fought campaign. The primary issues were unemployment, which last week reached a 45-year high of 5.8%, and inflation, which ballooned to 16.9% annually during Whitlam's prime ministership and still grinds on at the painful rate of 9%. Most economists expect increases in the cost of living to keep moderating somewhat, but they forecast still higher unemployment next year. Fraser evidently agreed with those general estimates; most political observers conclude that he called the election a year early to avoid having to go to the voters in somewhat...
...over his longtime rival, Fianna Fail Leader Eamon de Valera, Costello quipped, "I feel rotten. Last Saturday I was a free man." But he energetically pursued his task, breaking Ireland's final constitutional link to Britain with the repeal of the External Relations Act. Costello lost the prime ministership to De Valera in 1951, won it back in 1954, lost it again in 1957 and quit politics...
Rumored Ploy. Heath remained closeted all day with his chief advisers, struggling desperately to work out a successful strategy. One rumored ploy: Heath would resign and pass the party leadership-and prime ministership -to William Whitelaw, his Employment Secretary and former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The theory was that the popular Whitelaw might be a more acceptable choice to hold the Tories in power than Heath. Finally, just before 8 p.m., Heath made the short journey to Buckingham Palace, where he informed the Queen that he intended to explore ways of carrying on his administration...
After Holt's death, the Liberal leadership-and prime ministership-seemed far more likely to go to Deputy Party Leader William McMahon, Holt's treasurer and second-in-command. But Interim Prime Minister John McEwen, leader of the Country Party and a longtime personal rival of McMahon, warned that he would bolt the coalition if the Liberals chose McMahon. Amid the resulting party turmoil, Gorton went quickly to work gathering support for his own drive, and gained a full week on everyone else. By the time last week's Liberal Party convention opened in Canberra...
...Holt's death last week, the friendly cooperation disappeared, and the differences that Holt had smoothed over suddenly threatened to wreck the coalition. On one side is Country Party Leader John McEwen, Holt's Minister of Trade and Deputy Prime Minister, who automatically succeeded to the prime ministership until new Liberal Party elections can be held Jan. 9. On the other side is the Liberal Party's William McMahon, Holt's Treasurer, the party's second-in-command and Holt's heir apparent. Over the years, small policy disagreements between the two have sharpened...